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LiFE Curriculum Overview
The LIFE curriculum uses investigations of food and food systems and their interactions in the biological world to address many of the national standards for scientific literacy as well as some of the federal guidelines for encouraging healthful eating through school health education. LiFE curriculum is currently comprised of four modules, with each module containing 20-30 lessons.
Click on module title for more information
Growing Food (grades 4, 5, or 6)
In this module students investigate and expand their understandings about how nature provides us with food through studying photosynthesis and structure and function of plants, interactions in nature, and human designed agricultural systems to produce the plants and animals humans desire for food. The module ends with students exploring and analyzing their foods choices in light of what they have learned about our food production system.
Farm to Table & Beyond (grades 5 or 6)
This module explores and deepens students' understanding about food systems. Students by exploring why we have a food systems, then learn about how food is processed, followed by investigating waste and pollution created through our food system, and then exploring the environmental impacts of our food system. The module ends with the students investigate their own food choices decide if and what they want to change about how they eat and discuss, debate, and defend their choices.
Food & Health (grades 5 or 6)
Through studying the human body system students learn about what food does in our body, how our body systems work, and what we can do to keep our body healthy. Throughout the module the students have experiences in which they experiment with food and cook healthful recipes to eat with their peers.
Choice, Control, & Change (C3) (grades 6, 7 or 8)
Students first study energy balance in the human body and collect food intake (energy input) and activity (energy output) data on themselves. Next, students learn about how food and activity choices relate to health and explore the reasons why obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are increasing in our society. From here they analyze their own food and activity data and discuss, debate, and defend any changes they would like to make to their own eating and activity. Next, they collect data on ways that our society presents challenges to maintaining healthful habits. The last unit of this module confirms student understandings of the science connecting food and activity to health. Wrapping up their studies, students confirm their personal health commitments.