11-14 year olds

Starter activity

Watch the five videos in IWB 'Follow the grain chain’. Then carry out the drag and drop exercise.

Main activity

Work through IP ‘Wheat into flour: the milling process' and watch the associated video clip. Ask students to create a concept map summarising the important features of the five phases of the grain chain.

Then use AS 'Choosing the site for a flour mill'. You could organise students into groups, with each group considering one or more of the boxes on the AS, and then sharing their ideas with the class afterwards.

If your lesson is ICT-led, you could use IP ‘ICT in the grain chain’ instead. After reading the information on the IP, students could create a concept map of the main uses of ICT in the flour and grain industry. They could also identify the economic and practical advantages of ICT as a tool in the milling industry compared with earlier times when this technology was not available. (NB Even if the focus of the lesson is not ICT, it is worthwhile reviewing the ICT-led task briefly through a class discussion.)

Plenary

Use AS ‘The grain chain quiz’ to consolidate students' learning. As a follow-up, you could ask students (in small groups) to identify five things we should know about bread, and then groups compare results.

Homework or extension ideas

Students look at food packaging labels to identify which foods contain wheat flour. They should note where possible where the flour has been sourced/obtained/grown and whether it claims to have any particular health properties.

Important notes

The emphasis of this lesson will depend on whether it is being used as a vehicle for ICT/computing, geography/environmental studies, science or technology. Teachers will also need to gauge how much video material they should use with their classes as an information resource.

Resources
	Follow the 'grain chain'
	Follow the interactive trail to build up a picture of the chain
	From grain to loaf video
	See how a bakery turns flour into thousands of loaves of bread
	Be the baker
	Test your knowledge of bread-making in the bakery!
	Wheat into flour: the milling process
	Explore how wheat is made into flour
	Wheat into flour: the milling process
	Watch the video and explore how wheat is made into flour
	Choosing the site for a flour mill (pdf version)
	What factors do you need to think about? (Word version)
	ICT in the grain chain
	Find out how ICT is involved at every step of the grain chain
	The grain chain quiz (pdf version)
	How much do you know? Test your knowledge here (Word version)