Lesson plan

Lesson 1: Energy and energy balance

Objectives

  • To understand what energy is and why we need it
  • To understand where our energy comes from
  • To understand the concept of energy input and output.

Resources

Starter activity: (10–15 minutes)

Work with IWB 'Energy in, energy out'. Ask pupils to read the sentences and discuss any points as necessary. Ensure you highlight key words and phrases and place them in the reminder box/es. Using the material in the IWB, engage pupils in a short discussion about keeping energy in balance and what this means. Complete the activity by matching the different people to the meals.

Main activity: 30–40 minutes

This is a guide and the lesson may be shortened if required, or the final part of the work may be given as homework.

Using headings already written on the classroom board, briefly run through the following headings, taken from the IPs:

Food and energy: What is energy? Why does the body need energy? How much energy does the body need?

Energy balance: Energy input and output; What does balance mean? Getting the balance right

Now ask pupils to work in groups of around six if possible. Select groups that can work together and, where possible, include pupils who may lead and support others. You may need to differentiate either by task or outcome. Pupils should discuss and write down notes about one or more sections of the IP. Then the teacher should call upon different groups to feed back their findings/thoughts. The teacher may wish to add key words and phrases under the headings on the classroom board. Pupils now work again in their groups to record information they have received about other parts of the IPs by listening to what has been said by other pupils.

Teachers of younger and/or less able pupils may prefer to provide groups with a simple sheet sectioned into three or six as considered appropriate. Each section should have a heading and pupils in the group can work together to write in as much information as they can, even if in some cases this is restricted to simple sentences or even words. Each group takes one heading from an IP to work on. Older and more able pupils could work on all three headings from one IP. They should discuss and list their thoughts under each given heading. Pupils may choose to designate a chairperson, a note-taker and a spokesperson.

Teachers can choose whether to share the IPs themselves with the class, or just use them to fill in any gaps in the information collected by pupils.

Plenary: (5–10 minutes)

Recap key pieces of information in the form of a fun quiz, giving each group a chance to score two points for a right answer. If they fail, another group may step in with the correct answer to win one point. Score on the board.