Your Team is Running the School Canteen! How Can Mathematics Help You?
Getting Started
What does it mean to be healthy? Why is it important for a school canteen to have healthy choices? How can we make fair choices? You’ll be working in a team to:
- Explore healthy canteen food choices
- Develop budgeting and calculation skills in the context of a school canteen
- Compare and make decisions about food and supermarket options
- Select a new product, research costs, set a selling price, make and promote the product!
Start thinking about healthy eating by exploring these videos, presentations, websites and games:
- View this Slide Share presentation: You are what you eat
- Watch this TeacherTube video about School Canteens
- What does it mean to be ‘healthy’? Find out more about the Healthy Eating Pyramid and other information from Nutrition Australia.
- You can also play this Healthy Food Game.
- This site reviews healthy foods: Choice Food for Kids.
Digging Deeper
What skills do you need to run the school canteen? Brainstorm a list of things to consider in a group or as a class.
You will be assessed throughout this learning sequence. You can view the Assessment (Word - 64Kb) criteria any time.
First you’ll need to work on your budgeting and Maths skills. Try to use mental strategies where possible. Be prepared to reflect on the strategies used.
Find the best deal:
Learning Object : School Canteen - Best Buy Level 1 (LO ID L1928) Teacher link to Digilearn (requires login).
Estimate and check - find the best supplier:
Learning Object : School Canteen - Estimate and Check Level 1 (LO ID L1930) Teacher link to Digilearn (requires login).
Calculate the cost of goods to be purchased:
Learning Object : School Canteen - Restock Level 1 (LO ID L1927) Teacher link to Digilearn (requires login).
Double trouble! Now compare the cost of goods between two retailers:
Learning Object : School Canteen - Two Traders Level 1 (LO ID L1929) Teacher link to Digilearn (requires login).
Now create a mind map in your Maths book showing the range of strategies you used to calculate your answers. Provide an example for each strategy. Your strategies might include guess and check, doubling, counting on, times tables facts etc. Try to include as many as you can.
Going Further
What foods might you include in a healthy food canteen? You will work in a group to complete the following tasks.
Create a Venn diagram showing: healthy foods, foods in your canteen and foods which are both healthy and in the canteen.
Which is the largest section?
What else could go on a healthy canteen menu? You are going to create a list and then work together to decide which of your choices are likely to be most popular with students.
Work in your team to brainstorm a list of at least ten new items not included in your Venn diagram. Go to the 'Go for your life' Healthy Canteen Kit website to help you make a list. Explain why you chose those food types. Or go straight to Food ideas for canteens. Food ideas in a poster format.
Find at least one healthy recipe on at least four different sites. Make sure they’re healthy! Add these to your list.
As a group, decide on your top 5 - 10 recipe choices. Each product must include at least 4 ingredients which need to be prepared. You can’t just provide plain fruit! Then narrow it down to one choice.
Decide how you will do this – will you use a voting system? Present your favourite choice to the group? Be prepared to show how you made a fair decision, including opinions of all group members. Also be prepared to show what criteria you used - for example, health, taste, value for money, ease of preparation.
Teacher tip – you may wish to allow students to use the Intel Visual Ranking Tool to help groups make and justify their decision.
You will need to modify your recipe so that you cook enough for the whole grade to enjoy! Multiply the quantities given to ensure you’ll have enough. You may also choose to modify your recipe. Explain your reasons if you choose to do this.
Now it’s time to find out how much it would cost to buy the ingredients for your recipe! How much do you need of each item? Write your shopping list as a group.
Then work as a team to check prices with at least three online shops or catalogues. For example:
Some sites are better than others! Shop smart and try to get the best deal from each supermarket.
Record your working out using an Excel or other spreadsheet document. You will need a spreadsheet for each supermarket initially. Then compile your results into one spreadsheet clearly showing the cheapest price for each item and the cheapest supermarket overall.
Work together as a group to brainstorm the information to be included in your spreadsheets and how you will format this. Each person in the group should be able to explain how this was achieved and should contribute data to the spreadsheet.
As a guide, you should include:
- Each item
- Cost for 1 (or 1 pack)
- Cost for x number of item (as required for your class)
- The total cost for your shopping list at each online shop
- Clearly indicate which overall shopping option is cheapest. Are there any reasons for this? Is it also the best? You may argue an alternative choice is better if you can justify your point of view
- Make sure it is clear which option is cheapest for each item
- Also indicate how much you would need to sell your item for in each instance to make a profit
Taking Action
Ideally, you will now prepare your food for the rest of your class. If buying the ingredients online is not practical or appropriate, you might negotiate with your group to bring in certain items so you can prepare your recipe.
Step 1: Draw a flow chart or write the steps your group will need to undertake in order to successfully complete this task. Be specific. Work together.
Step 2: Take photos of the process.
Step 3: Your class should negotiate assessment criteria for the evaluation of each recipe. You can use this sheet as a guide: Negotiated assessment (Word - 154Kb)
Step 3.1: The teams scoring an average of 3 or higher for each criterion will then campaign to have their product included in the school canteen.
Step 3.2: Each team should create a PowerPoint or PhotoStory presentation showing the process undertaken.
Presentations to the class will need to include:
- Initial Venn diagram showing healthy / unhealthy foods
- Brainstorm of recipe ideas
- How you decided on your final recipe
- A summary of your spreadsheet information including calculations and findings,/li>
- Your decision about the ‘best’ option and why
- The process undertaken to prepare your recipe for the class
- Photos of the process
Each group should then write an email to the Principal stating your reasons for wanting to include your product in the school canteen. Be persuasive! Although you are writing an email, you should still use quite formal language.
Ask the Principal who you should deliver your presentation to: the Principal, Assistant Principal, School Council, teachers, students and / or Canteen Manager. Good luck!
Extension activities:
- Modify ads using this easy PBS interactive.
- Investigate advertising further with the Gruen Transfer. This is recommended for use with mature students.
- Develop your own multimedia advertisement for your product.
Assessment
Your teacher can complete the Assessment (Word - 64Kb) which incorporates all aspects of the task. Other assessment may be incorporated as appropriate.
In addition, complete the following statements in a thoughtful fashion:
- Through being in a team, I learnt the value of…
- As a team member, I work best when...
- I supported people in my team by...
- My best quality as a team member is…
- Our group worked particularly well to…
- We could have improved by…
- The most enjoyable part of the task was…
- The most challenging part of the task was…
- The most significant things I learnt were…
VELS and teacher tips
‘Your team is running the school canteen' addresses VELS standards at Level 5. The VELS document (Word - 45Kb) has been written for Level 5 and can be modified as needed.
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