ABSTRACT
Nutrition and health have become increasingly popular topics due to COVID and food shortages. This chapter describes ways to integrate STEAM content, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics, through facts about nutrition and health. Readers will explore science facts about nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates, different types of fats, vitamins and minerals, and their impact on health. Readers will use technology through computer operations and ways to communicate information about food through avatars. Information on heat transfer and safe temperatures for storing and handling food is a chemical engineering topic. Readers will find interesting ways to have their students study heat transfer and the way it affects the quality and nutritional value of food. Detailed images of food can be represented through the visual arts where students study characteristics of fruits and vegetables and represent them through sculpture and pastel chalk drawings. Mathematics lessons on food portions begin with whole numbers for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Most food labels contain fractions, decimals, and percentages. Each unit plan follows a nine-step format: Become an Expert; Essential Questions; Objectives; Vocabulary; Materials and Resources; Set, Procedures, and Closure; Formative and Summative Assessment; Extend Learning; and a Sensory Checklist. Online References contain QR codes that can be optically used to access the websites at the end of each unit plan.
