Global Awareness Lesson

I created a Global Awareness Lesson for my BIO 115: Nutrition class at Delaware Technical Community College using the ePals website. Through this website, my students will be partnered with European students with whom they will communicate for several weeks. During the course of this lesson, my students will create a survey or questionnaire that they will provide to their "ePal" in order to learn more about nutrition and diet in European countries. Their goal is to learn the primary means by which the international students learn about nutrition, what guides their dietary choices, and the major differences between the American dietary guidelines and those of European countries. In addition to the results of the survey, my students will also learn about their ePals' diets by keeping a food diary for three days and asking their ePals to do the same. By comparing the food diaries, my students can learn a lot about the differences and similarities between the typical American diet and the diets of European countries. At the beginning of this lesson, my students will be asked to list some of the assumptions they have regarding the typical European diet. Upon completion of the lesson, they will be asked to write a reflection to analyze the results of the food diaries and surveys that they administered as compared to the assumptions they had before beginning this project. The major post-assessment that each of my students will have to complete is a presentation that analyzes and summarizes the data that they gathered and the conclusions that they drew about nutrition and diet in European countries compared to the United States. Each student will present this information to the rest of the class using the Web 2.0 tool, software, or app of their choosing.

Since my students are collaborating with international students to learn more about the European culture, this project is considered a global awareness assignment. One of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) is for students to develop cultural understanding and global awareness by interacting with students from other cultures. I believe through the use of the ePals website, this lesson does exactly that. I plan to incorporate this lesson into the second unit of instruction (my Nutrition class is broken down into 4 major units). During the first unit, my students will learn all about general nutrition, including the food pyramid, the four major food groups, and the importance of a healthy diet. They will also learn about the dietary guidelines for Americans. Once they have this knowledge, they will begin Unit 2, when they will learn about nutrition in other countries and how this differs from the United States. This unit will culminate in the global awareness lesson utilizing the ePals website.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jerica Henry on April 15, 2014 at 4:35pm

Laura,

Wow! Your lesson is very well thought out and planned. It seems like you put a lot of detail into making sure this lesson is successful. I love the idea of communicating with foreign students about differences in diet! Great plan!

Permalink Reply by Nina Esposito on April 16, 2014 at 7:19pm

A lot of people seemed to use ePals! It seems like such a cool website to use. I like your idea for nutrition and diet. It would allow the students to learn about how they should eat, while learning about other countries. You have a lot of good ideas and incorporate different strategies.

Permalink Reply by Jessica Laverne on April 17, 2014 at 5:10am

I absolutely love your idea; I actually would like to do it! What a great way to see how different cultures live and eat. I’m sure we eat so differently and this activity would really show your students. The interaction between students using ePal would make it so much more realistic than the students just reading facts out of a book or watching a video on nutrition around the world. Do you think this activity would take a toll on your students and they think about what they eat on a daily basis?

Permalink Reply by Laura Bianco on April 17, 2014 at 1:26pm

Jessica,

I have asked my students to keep a food diary before, but have never incorporated the global awareness aspect into this assignment. Almost always, after my students evaluate their diets from the food diary, they find a "bad habit" or negative aspect of their diet that they never thought about before. I have had students suddenly realize that they are drinking 4 sodas per day when previously, they had never even thought about what they were doing. I think this experience is very eye-opening for them, in a good way. I think it will be even more interesting to compare their experiences with those of the international students.

Permalink Reply by Jessica Pizzaia on April 17, 2014 at 11:49am

Laura,

What a great way to tie in your nutritional curriculum with e-pals! Of course your students can then see that not all cultures are exposed to the same types of foods or diets. This is a great learning experience for them and also encourages them to use technology! It also seems that the students will have a general understanding of nuturition before speaking with their e-pals during the 2nd unit in your course. That ensures that they are somewhat knowledgeable when speaking to their e-pals as well! Good planning!

Permalink Reply by Christopher Terranova on April 17, 2014 at 12:21pm

Hey Laura I also used the ePals website for my global instruction. You assignment is an extremely good idea and it is very practical for you to establish in your curriculum. I feel that the nutrition is very different between the US and Europe and this would be a great comparison for your students and their ePals. I have also created an assignment where my students must find a project to work on with other students from around the world of their choice. The students must reflect on working with the other students with a different cultural background and then they present it to the class at the end. Good luck with this assignment!

Permalink Reply by Laura Marsh on April 19, 2014 at 8:44am

I really like that you required your students to create a survey or questionnaire to learn more about their pen pal. I think this could be a great way for them to stay focused and well planned during this assignment. It can help them think about the most important questions to ask and what they hope to learn through communicating with their pen pal. I also like that students would present their findings using a Web 2.0 tool. Great lesson!

Permalink Reply by Lindsey Lee Smith on April 27, 2014 at 7:19pm

I love how you incorporated so much of what we have learned in the our Masters program so far, with your questionnaire and presenting with a Web 2.0 tool. I think your students will really enjoy this lesson and learning about the nutrition of their ePal, as well having them reflect on their own nutrition. This sounds like a very engaging and appropriate assignment. Best of luck and enjoy! ;)

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