Human Requirements

Module 10: Food Production and Distribution

This sub-organizer contains the following sections:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

Prescribed Learning Outcomes

• describe the relationships among world food production, shortages, and distribution
• describe and analyse the ways in which society directs the development of food production, food processing, and food distribution technologies
• identify examples of food production technologies used in B.C.
• relate the effects of changing technology in food production and processing to the changes in the skills required by the workforce in this industry
• describe the interactions between science and technology that contribute to food production and preservation (of both plants and animals)

Suggested Instructional Strategies

• Have students research worldwide food production and distribution and report out.
• Present students with the concepts of carrying capacity and ecological footprint.
• Have students discuss the effects of resource use on food production and distribution.
• Have students conduct research to compare the production, processing, and distribution of food in North America with that in a developing nation in terms of costs, technology used, and impact on employment.
• Have a guest speaker or representative from industry or post-secondary, describe current technological impacts on food production as well as industry requirements for training and education.
• Have students research methods for enhancing plant and animal growth, (new strains, controlling pests, fertilizers). Students should report on the benefits of as well as the concerns.
• Invite a guest speaker from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to provide information about current food production technologies used in B.C. Have students do a data analysis on production trends, using computers to analyse and graph their results.
• Have students design and perform an experiment to demonstrate food spoilage, and use it to discuss the conditions that may reduce losses.
• Have students present reports to the class on new food production technologies and comparative food production. Use a comprehensive scale to rate the reports for clarity, details, references to technology, and impacts identified. As well, students could create short-answer questions for a quiz on their reports for other students. (Assess quiz answers for accuracy).
• Have teams of students debate various views about diet, food production, distribution of produce, marketing boards, international trade, and limits to growth.
• Have students design a hands-on investigation of a "new" food technology (e.g., hydroponics).
• Arrange field trips to agricultural research or production sites. Have staff/farmers discuss current challenges in the industry.

Suggested Assessment Strategies

• Track students' questions of guest speakers for students' preparation and enthusiasm, and for the relevence and appropriateness of the questions.
• Assess students' graphs for using criteria such as clarity, use of labels, accuracy, and extrapolation.
• Assess students' experiments for design and reporting qualities (hypothesis, control of variables, procedure, materials used, testing, observation records, conclusions).
• Rate the arguments of the debating teams on the basis of relevance, supporting details, appropriateness, and accuracy.

Recommended Learning Resources

• Breaking Ground
• Breakthrough Series

• Graph Wiz

• Science, Technology and Society Yearbook 1992
• The Chemical Education for Public Understanding Program

• Science and Technology Videodisc Series 1

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