Education Technology


STEM: One Small Bite for Man

by Texas Instruments - Data Collection with Probes Lesson

Objectives

Students will research science topics including:

  • Energy and material flow in cellular respiration.
  • Animal cell organelles.
  • The effects of Body Mass Index and activity level have on energy usage (calories consumed).

Vocabulary

  • Mitochondria
  • Cellular Respiration
  • Calories
  • Body Mass Index (BMI)

About the Lesson

Your students are asked to play the role of a horticultural engineer on the International Space Station (ISS) who has been researching food production for extended space exploration missions. Students will design and build a model of an astronaut that consumes energy according to the BMI and activity level assigned in simulation of a space work environment

As a result, students will:

  • Use their model to investigate how Body Mass Index (BMI) and activity affect a person's daily food requirements.
  • Will use mathematical processes of:
    • Area of a rectangle
    • Slope of a line
    • Interpreting graphs
    • Proportional reasoning