Wow! You're Eating Geography  Delilah Forsyth

Overview of Lesson		Body of Lesson - Procedure & Assessment
Connection to the Curriculum,Standards and Skills		Activity One and Assessment
Grade Level		Activity Two and Assessment
Purpose of Lesson		Activity Three and Assessment
Primary Geographic Question		Assessment of Lesson
Secondary Questions		References
Materials

Overview of the Lesson

This lesson looks at patterns of the areas that produce foods.  Students will determine foods that are grown in the local area, the United States, and around the world.  The concept of global interdependence is introduced by exploring the origins of many of the foods eaten everyday.

Geography Standards

Standard 1:  How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.

Standard 11:  The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface.

Alabama Course of Study:  Social Studies Content Standards (Grade 7)

Standard 2:     Illustrate spatial information using data, symbols, and colors to create thematic maps.

Standard 17:   Relate economic activity of a region within its geographic context.

Geographic Skills

Acquiring Geographic Information:  Use appropriate reference maps and encyclopedias to acquire information.

Organizing Geographic Information:  Graph and map data on major agricultural crops (e.g. potatoes, corn, tea, coffee, cocoa, and wheat.)

Analyzing Geographic Information:  Use graphs and maps to compare foods grown locally, regionally, and globally.

Answering Geographic Questions:  Write a short paragraph explaining the similarities of the areas that produce the major food crops and the effect of supply and demand on the global economy.

Grade 7

Students will map and graph the major food crops of the local area, U.S. areas, and other countries and discuss how climate affects the economy of these regions.

What are the major food crops, and are there particular regions of the world that produce all or most of a particular product?

What countries produce the major food crops?

What are the climates of the major food-producing countries?

What patterns of climate and products exist?

How does global trading in food affect the global economy?

• Atlas
• Reference Maps
• Encyclopedias
• World Outline Maps
• Large Wall Map of World
• Index Cards
• Peel-Off Dot Stickers (one color for each crop represented)
• Shaded Overhead Map depicting major crop-producing regions
• Colored Overhead Map depicting high trade areas
• Colored Overhead Map depicting climates

Activity One

Secondary Question # 1:  What countries produce the major food crops?

• Divide students into small groups.  Give each group a world outline map and copies of reference maps.
• Tell students to make a list of what they think are the major food crops.  Teacher will add to this list as appropriate.
• Students may use textbooks, atlas, and encyclopedias to locate areas in which the major food crops are grown.
• Students will add the appropriate food-producing location to the list of major food crops and categorize the list by country.
• Students will use different colored peel-off stickers to label the major food crop producer(s) on the outline map.  Teacher will provide the key (e.g. blue dots for coffee, red dots for potatoes, etc.)
• Students will be assigned one major food crop.  They will cut out a picture of that food (or draw a picture) and place it on an index card.
• The class will be divided into two teams.  Using the cards they made of the major food crops, the students will play a game.  One student from each team will pick a card.  If the student can tell which country produces that food, he/she will place the card on the appropriate food-producing area on the wall world map.  Each student will get five points for each correct answer.

Assessing Student Learning: Activity One

Teacher will check the accuracy of the maps and categorized lists produced by the students.  Observe students during the game.

Activity Two

• Secondary Question # 2:  What are the climates of the major food-producing countries?  Identify patterns of climate and products.
• Teacher will define and discuss the different types of climate conditions found in the world.
• Students will be divided into small groups.  Each group will be given a world outline map.
• Students will use the list of major food crops produced in Activity One to play a detective game.
• Using textbooks and encyclopedias, students will determine the climate for the regions in which the major food crops are grown.
• Students will determine the key and label the world outline maps according to the appropriate climate.
• Students will use the maps they developed in Activities One and Two to create a chart showing the type of crop produced and the climate of each food-producing country.

Assessing Student Learning: Activity Two

Each group will display their chart.  Students should be able to explain their work.

Activity Three

• Secondary Question #3:  How does global trading in food affect global economy?
• Teacher will layer overheads to show students the types of climates of the countries which produce the major food crops.  The overheads will show that the best climates for producing food will be over the major food-producing areas, which will also be the high trade areas.  Teacher will discuss the relationship between the climate and types of crops grown and how this affects the economy of an area through supply and demand.
• To illustrate supply and demand, the teacher will allow students to take a handful of tokens from a box.  Then the teacher will place a value on the tokens.  The teacher will show the class an object and tell them there is only one of these objects to bid on, and the person who purchases this item with their tokens will receive an additional item free.  The teacher will open the bidding at 10 tokens and allow the students to bid until someone has paid a high price for this item.  Then the teacher will show the class a large supply of the very same item just sold and open the bidding at 1 token.  Ask the student who paid the high price for the item if he/she would have paid so much had he/she known there was an abundant supply.
• Divide the class into four teams.  One team will represent the United States, and the other three teams will represent the three major food exporters to the United States.
• The three exporting teams will each be assigned as one of the major food exporting countries to the United States.  Each team will be asked to list the price and amount of the product they will sell to the United States if they have an abundant crop.  Next, the teams will develop a scenario that produces a crop shortage and list the price and amount of the product they will sell to the United States.
• The United States team must also determine how much food product they wish to purchase from each country and how much they are willing to pay if the country has an abundant crop.  Then, the teams will determine how much of the food product they wish to purchase from each country in case of a shortage and how much they are willing to pay.

Assessing Student Learning: Activity Three

Each team will explain in supply and demand terms how they arrived at the amount of product sold or bought and how they determined the price.

Students will write a paragraph to answer these questions or respond to these statements:  (1) Describe the relationship of climate and product. (2)  How does climate affect the economy of a country?  (3)  How does the concept of supply and demand affect the global economy?

Collier's Encyclopedia  (1996). Collier's, New York.

World Atlas (1971).  Hammond Inc., U.S.

The World Economy  (1992).  MacMillan College Publishing Co., New York.