Algae in Your House
Place—Algae in Your House
Summary: No matter how far away we might live from the beach, we are culturally connected to the ocean and its resources. Students examine the contents of their kitchen cupboards to find evidence of the ocean’s influence.
Concepts to teach: Nutrition, social studies
Goals: Students discover that although we sometimes can neither smell nor taste them, many ingredients in our foods and household products come from the sea.
Standards:
H.3S.1, H.3S.2, H.3S.3
Specific Objectives:
- Inventory the types and variety of seafood consumed at home.
- Find three products at home or school that contain ingredients derived from marine algae.
Activity Links and Resources:
- There are Algae in Your House—In this lesson plan from Smithsonian’s Ocean Planet, students read food labels carefully to find out how many products contain algae.
Assessment:
- Survey the students’ personal experiences with marine products. Offer a checklist of seafood to find out which types students have eaten before, eat regularly, or have never tried.
- As a pre-activity homework task, ask students to list all the products from the ocean they can find in their kitchens.
