Designing a Healthier, Happier Meal

Skip Main Navigation
  • Home
  • Lesson Activities
    • Introduction
    • What Is Obesity?
    • Fast Food and Obesity
    • Food and Nutrition
    • Typical Fast Food Meal
    • Supersizing
    • Fast Food Marketing
    • A Legal Matter
    • Your Challenge
    • The Engineering Design Process
    • Explore Possibilities
    • Explore Possibilities: Mathematics
    • Children's Meal Data
    • Explore Possibilities: Biology
    • Explore Possibilities: Social Studies
    • Explore Possibilities: Art
    • Explore Possibilities: Health
    • Select an Approach and Design Your Proposal
    • Make a Prototype and Test Your Design
    • Refine and Create Your Final Children's Meal
    • Communicate Your Results
  • Student Resources
    • Table of Contents
    • Glossary
    • Engineering Portfolio
    • More to Explore
    • Assessment Rubric for Argumentative Essay
    • Assessment Rubric for Final Project
  • Teacher Resources
    • Lesson Preparation
    • Lesson Overview
    • Objectives
    • Using This Site
    • Technology
    • Schedule
    • Essential Questions
    • Enduring Understandings
    • Background Information
    • Teacher Notes
    • Appendices
  • STEM Careers
  • Introduction
  • Lesson Activity 1
  • Lesson Activity 2
  • Lesson Activity 3
  • Lesson Activity 4
  • Lesson Activity 5
  • Lesson Activity 6
  • Lesson Activity 7
  • Lesson Activity 8
  • Lesson Activity 9
  • Lesson Activity 10
  • Lesson Activity 11

Explore Possibilities: Mathematics

illustration of a lightbulb
ChooseMyPlate.gov provides recommendations for a healthy diet. Image courtesy of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.

How healthy are the fast food meals for children currently available in our country? In this activity, you will analyze a sampling of real data to find out.

First, explore the MyPlate website to learn more about the U.S. government's recommendations for a healthy child's meal:

> ChooseMyPlate.gov opens in new window

Use the website to answer the following questions on page 8 in your Engineering Portfolio:

  • What are the five food groups that people should aim to eat at each meal?
  • What percentage of your plate should be fruits and vegetables?
  • What percentage of your grains should be whole grains?
  • About how many calories should a 4- to 8-year-old consume each day?
  • Assuming a child consumes one-third of his or her daily calories at lunch, how many calories should his or her lunch contain?
  • What is the limit on "empty calories" that a 4- to 8-year-old should consume each day?

Now you have a good idea of what a child's meal should be like-but how does this compare to the data on real children's meals? Proceed to the next page to find out.

Teacher Note

Before beginning, arrange to bring in a few different fast food restaurant kids' meals and assign one to each group. Have students turn to pages 8 and 9 of their Engineering Portfolios.

Read More

Essential Questions

  • How can the engineering design process be used to develop solutions to real-world problems?

More to Explore

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has recently released a study similar to the data analysis you just did. In their study, CSPI looked not just at calorie counts but at fat, sodium and added sugars, in order to determine which fast food meals meet guidelines for healthy eating.

Read More

<< Go to First page < Go to Previous page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Go to page 6
  • Go to page 7
  • Go to page 8
  • Go to page 9
  • Go to page 10
  • Go to page 11
  • Go to page 12
  • Go to page 13
  • Go to page 14
  • Go to page 15
  • Go to page 16
  • Go to page 17
  • Go to page 18
  • Go to page 19
  • Go to page 20
  • Go to page 21
Go to Next page> Go to Last page>>
Site Map | Accessibility | About

This website is a production of Maryland Public Television/Thinkport in collaboration with the Maryland State Department of Education. The contents of this website were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

Thinkport Maryland State Department of Education Maryland - STEM education

2013 Copyright Maryland State Department of Education

Creative Commons logo

Contact the MSDE Office of Instructional Technology for copyright questions.