Title: Count the Calories

Other Curriculum Objectives that can be addressed by this lesson plan

English Language Arts: 2.1, 2.3, 4.1; Mathematics: (Gr 7) 1.1, 1.2, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.4; Computer Skills: (Gr. 7) 3.2

Grade: 7

Competency 3.2: Enter and edit data into a prepared spreadsheet to test simple "What if?" statements.

Measure 3.2.2: Given a prepared spreadsheet of activities (e.g., running, swimming, walking) and their caloric expenditure, enter time segments for four activities sufficient to burn a total of n calories.

Materials Needed: An empty food box or wrapper, that has the number of calories per serving printed on the box, for each student; one or more computers in the classroom with the Calories prepared spreadsheet file loaded or access to a computer lab with the Calories file loaded on each computer; transparency of the Exercise/Calories blackline master; handout for each student of the Exercise/Calories Activity blackline master.

Time: One or two class sessions.

Terms: Columns, Rows, Cells, Labels, Values, Formulas

Grade 7 Glossary

Activities

Pre-Activities:

1. Review spreadsheet concepts and terms.
2. Show the class some examples of printed nutritional information on food containers. Ask them to identify what they would do to determine the amount of a particular nutrient if they had two servings? Three servings? 5 1/2 servings?
3. Ask students to describe the benefits of having the nutritional information in a spreadsheet. Remind the class that spreadsheets help solve this type of "what if" question by making the calculations very quickly so the problem solver can try different values easily and quickly.
4. Have the students, in pairs, examine the food boxes and wrappers for the activity in order to locate the calorie count for each serving.

Activity:

Note: The day before, ask each student to bring in a wrapper or box for some food item that has the number of calories per serving printed on the wrapper or box.

1. Explain to the class that they are going to use a computer spreadsheet to discover how different activities burn calories. Project a transparency of the Exercise/Calories blackline master. Also hand out copies of the Exercise/Calories Activity to each member of the class.
2. Pointing to the transparency, describe each of the sections of the spreadsheet: where they will enter a weight value (since a person's weight helps determine how many calories are burned by various activities), where they will enter the amount of time spent on different activities, and where they will see the number of calories that are burned by the activities.
3. Have a member of the class come to one of the computers to act as the operator and explain that the operator will be keying the values that the class tells him/her in order to solve the first two problems on their sheet.
4. Call on a student in class to provide a weight value. The operator should move the selector to the cell for entering the weight. This will be cell C2. Have the operator explain to the rest of the class how he/she is moving the selector and entering the information. The operator may need some assistance in doing this.
   
   
5. Ask a member of the class to read the first question.

   If you jog for 30 minutes, how many calories would you burn?

   Ask the class if anyone can tell how they would use the computer spreadsheet to solve this problem. An appropriate answer would be to enter the number 30 to the right of "Jogging:" in cell C10. The answer will appear in the same row but in the column titled Number of Calories and in cell F17 at the bottom right hand side of the screen by Total Number of Calories:..

6. Ask a member of the class to read the next question.

   If you spent an additional hour throwing frisbee, how many calories would you burn?

   Ask the class if anyone can tell how they would use the computer spreadsheet to solve this problem. An appropriate answer would be to enter the number 60 to the right of "Playing Fresbee:" in cell C12. The answer will appear in the same row but in the column titled Number of Calories and at the bottom right hand side of the screen by Total Number of Calories:..

7. If you have a limited number of computers, collect the food boxes and wrappers and place them at the computer(s). If the class is using a computer lab, then they should keep their boxes and wrappers with them.

8. Explain that for the next 6 questions, they should use a different food item box or wrapper for each question. If they are working at a computer lab, students should swap boxes/wrappers with their neighbor to answer each question. Explain that after finding each answer, they should write an explanation of how they solved the problem. For example, "My food item was Fritos which has 150 calories. I kept entering different times in the cell C12 until the number of calories was equal to or just greater than the number in the serving of Fritos."
   
   
9. Divide the class into groups of three to solve problems 9 and 10.
   
   
10. Ask members of the class to report on each problem, explaining how they solved each problem. Emphasize how they are solving "What if?" problems. Also ask members of the class to report on the additional ways that computer spreadsheets can be used to solve "What if?" statements (problem #10).

Give students a prepared spreadsheet of activities (e.g., jogging, playing frisbee, sky diving) and their caloric expenditure. Have students, individually, enter time segments for four activities to determine the time per activity sufficient to burn a total of 1560 calories.