Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes

Part A: Food in focus

30 minutes

Part B: A pretty sweet case study

60 minutes

Part C: Sustainable canteen proposal

10 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions:

Students will...

understand a range of sustainability issues and relate these to consumer food choices
be able to apply a chosen sustainability principle to available food products
be able to research and select sustainable food options for your school canteen

Success criteria:

Students can...

brainstorm and research a range of issues related to sustainable food production
investigate the sustainability of a range of produce
make informed decisions about purchasing sustainable food
write a justified proposal for improvements to your school canteen

Note: If students have completed any of the lessons in this unit (Love Food? Love Bees! - Food Security and Sustainability - Year 9 & 10) previously, they will have an understanding of how agriculture and sustainability are related. If not, consider teaching Part A of Love Food? Love Bees! A Sustainable Food Future before progressing to Part A of this lesson. This will allow your class the chance to make the link between food production and the environment before asking them to take action on these issues.

Teacher preparation

To end this lesson, students will be investigating a range of products from your school canteen. Prior to this lesson, arrange access to the canteen for a small group of students. These students will be recording information about some of the fresh produce in the canteen. Students may also need to ask a few simple questions of the canteen staff about where some of the produce is bought.

Students will be creating a proposal for alternative produce options for your school canteen. Prior to this lesson, arrange for the canteen organisers/managers to receive and consider students' suggestions.

Part A: Food in focus

Step 1

Explain to the class that in this lesson they will be creating a plan of action (proposal) that will help make their school canteen more sustainable. Remind students that as we approach the year 2050 it is estimated that the world's population will reach 9.7 billion. For this reason, we need to be smart about how we use our resources and treat our land. One of the most effective ways we can make a positive impact on our environment is by eating more sustainably.

Now show the following clip, inviting students to list any 'challenges/issues' and 'opportunities' for eating sustainably mentioned in the clip. There is a table in the Student Worksheet where students can begin this list. You may wish to demonstrate an example of a challenge, such as transporting food long distances adding to greenhouse emissions, and an opportunity such as buying local food, before playing the clip:

Sources short film (full) - Youth Food Movement Australia | (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yB4yCcUE6A)

Step 2

Invite students to share the challenges and opportunities that they have listed, making a table on the board to collect students' observations. Now, ask the class if any of the opportunities on the list could play a part in resolving the challenges?

Work with the class to link challenges with opportunities on the class list. For example, the challenge of 'not knowing what goes into our food' could be linked to 'shopping at a farmers market'. When you find a link, draw an arrow from the challenge to the opportunity. If you have challenges without a linked opportunity, ask students to brainstorm a solution not mentioned in the film and add it to the list. If there is a challenge that the class can not find any opportunities to match, ask for a volunteer to quickly research this on an internet enabled device and report back, as you continue to work through the list.

Note: You may find that some of the opportunities link to multiple challenges. This indicates that these actions are highly effective in creating a sustainable food future.

Be sure to keep this list on the board, as it will be used in the next part of the lesson.

Part B: A Pretty sweet case study

Step 1

Reiterate that since we know the importance of agriculture to sustainability and how much of a positive impact we can have by making small changes to what we eat, students will now be turning their attention to the food in their school. In particular, the class will be investigating and proposing simple changes to the school canteen's menu. Students will investigate a selection of menu items, determine their sustainability and propose changes for the canteen to consider.

Note: It is important that students understand that this activity is not about disrespecting the school canteen or the people working there. As we heard in the clip, "even for the most informed, aware consumer, it is still quite hard to make a good choice" - Alexandra Iljadica, Youth Food Movement Co-Founder. This activity is about students using what they learn in class to help the school become an even more sustainable part of the community.

Now, explain that before students propose a plan of action it is important for them to know what other schools have done to support sustainable food production and consumption. The following clip shows how a group of young students are planning on addressing an important issue in the food system: the decline of pollinators. Invite students to pay attention to the way these students have tackled this issue, taking note of the problem, identified solution and actions taken to combat the issue. Now, play the Bee Issues clip: (https://www.abc.net.au/btn/classroom/bee-issues/10525994)

Step 2

Invite students to consider what the benefits of these students' actions would be to students, teachers, the community and Australia. Invite students to list benefits to each group in section 2 of the Student Worksheet, then hold a sharing session. Now, draw students' attention back to the list of challenges that you created in Part A of this lesson. Ask the class if this school's plan would solve any of the challenges on your list.

Most likely you will see that addressing the decline of pollinators will address some challenges but not all of them. It is important that students take this idea with them into the next part of the lesson. The sustainable canteen proposal that students will make will likely help with a range of food-related issues but will not solve everything. For this reason, groups will need to first choose a challenge in our food system, like the decline of pollinators, and suggest a canteen menu change that will address this issue.

Part C: Sustainable canteen proposal

Step 1

Clarify the investigation and proposal process with the class, explaining that students will work in small groups and select a food sustainability issue to address. Groups will then investigate some of the canteen menu items, looking at ingredients that could be replaced to better play a part in solving their chosen issue. This proposed replacement could be a complete change of ingredients, such as swapping beef with mushrooms to reduce water use, or it could be producer-based, e.g. switching from an interstate tomato farmer to a local one. Groups will need to find out where the menu item they investigated comes from (even if this is only a general location rather than a specific farm), propose an alternative producer, and explain why this is a more sustainable option for the school.

The criteria for the proposal is listed in section 3 of the Student Worksheet. Encourage the class to read this, ask any clarifying questions they may have and annotate this list as needed.

Step 2

Invite students to form small groups, collect a piece of butchers paper and write 'What are the sustainability issues we can address in our school canteen?' in the middle of the page. Invite the group to come up with as many issues as possible. You may want to kick off the brainstorming by giving students the example of 'declining soil health'. Once groups have written down all the ideas they can think of, Invite them to use an internet-enabled device to expand on this brainstorm. Then, encourage groups to select one issue that they would like to pursue further through this inquiry, and write this in section 4 of the Student Worksheet.

Now, invite students to consider what their canteen can do to address their selected issue. You may want to demonstrate this for the class by offering that to improve soil health, the canteen could by biodynamic or organic produce. Invite students to come up with possible options for the canteen to combat their issue, listing these in section 4 of the Student Worksheet.

If the class have completed either the Love Food? Love Bees! Sustainable Agriculture or Love Food? Love Bees! A Sustainable Future lessons, invite students to revisit the list of sustainable food production methods they investigated to better inform this process.

Step 3

Give groups a copy of the school canteen menu. Invite students to make a short list of ingredients (five maximum per group) that may be worth investigating. These ingredients should be parts of the canteen items that could be replaced, so they will need to be items created in-house. Things such as sandwiches are great for this activity, as they have multiple fresh products that can be investigated.

Step 4

Once each group has their lists, take the class to the canteen. Invite one student per group to record the producers/farm of the ingredients they have listed. This may mean that students look at the boxes that ingredients came from, or any labels on fresh fruit and vegetables, and record the company that grew/produced it in section 5 of the Student Worksheet.

Note: Some ingredients' provenance may not be easily identifiable. If this is the case, students can skip over this item on their list, but each group should have at least two items accounted for.

Now, return to the class with the information that students have recorded.

Step 5

Make sure that each group member gets a record of the produce and the producer in their Student Worksheet. Invite groups to begin investigating the producers of their selected ingredients. Students should focus on any information that may be important to their selected issue: for instance, if a group were to select the issue of food miles (how far produce travels from the farm to our door) they should investigate where the farm is located and if there is any information on whether the produce goes to a processing area before being delivered to your school. Students may find that some of the canteen's options already support their chosen issue well, while others may need reevaluating.

Step 6

Once groups have investigated the existing ingredients used in the canteen, it is time to look into possible alternatives. Invite students to research alternatives to the current producers that would better address their chosen issue. For instance, if a group investigating food miles found that the canteen's fruit was grown interstate, they might look for some more local options.

Encourage groups to settle on one ingredient change to propose, recording their preferred producer in section 6 of the Student Worksheet.

Step 7

Explain to the class who you have arranged to read their proposals. Now, invite groups to draft their half-page maximum proposal. Encourage students to consider what their audience will want to know about before making this decision, and to use the persuasive writing skills that they learnt in English when writing this proposal.

Once drafts are completed arrange a class feedback session, where each group can read their proposals aloud and gain feedback from the rest of the class. After this session, encourage groups to make any adjustments to their proposals based on feedback before creating a final version and submitting it to their teacher.

Reflection

Invite students to respond to the following reflection questions in the Student Worksheet:

Which ingredient change from another group do you think would be worthwhile doing and why?

What changes could you help make at home that would also help address your chosen food sustainability issue?

Differentiated learning

Extension - Invite students to propose multiple changes to the school canteen menu to address their food sustainability issue.

Provisions for Learning Support - Select a range of items on the school canteen menu for students that have various local alternatives.

Taking Action for Food Security

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

Lesson Guides and Printables

Lesson Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Info

Related Professional Learning

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