Lesson FS1: Introduction to Food Security

Description: Food security is a foreign concept to many Americans. Most believe that chronic hunger and malnutrition happens only to people in developing nations or to the homeless. In reality, 1 in 6 people in America go hungry every day and are not food secure. Throughout the lesson, students will develop and refine their understanding of food security and they are able to compare different countries and analyze what food security issues they have based on the three pillars using global statistics.

Objectives

What Students Learn:

  • Food security is defined by 3 pillars, and it is influenced by many factors including poverty, geography, society, climate, and politics.
  • 11% of all people worldwide go hungry each day.
  • This is a complex, global problem that needs to be addressed in their lifetime.

What Students Do:

  • Students create their own definition of food security using knowledge from class discussions.
  • They apply statistics to compare and contrast food security in countries around the world and collaborate with team members to investigate one country with food insecurity.

Instructions

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Food security is a foreign concept to many Americans. Most believe that chronic hunger and malnutrition happens only to people in developing nations or to the homeless. In reality, 1 in 6 people in America go hungry every day and are not food secure. To some students, food insecurity is a reality, therefore this is a subject that must be approached with great sensitivity and care. Throughout the lesson, students will develop and refine their understanding of food security using online resources, videos and class discussion to help guide their thinking. This concept is the introduction to the unit and will be addressed in future lessons associated with the unit, so it is important that the students get a solid understanding of the concept. They are able to compare different countries and analyze what food security issues they have based on the three pillars using global statistics. The lesson ends by introducing students to the UN council meeting that will take place at the end of this unit, and answering questions to prepare for it in the Building Your Case worksheet.

FOR EDUCATORS

Please use this Complete Food Security (FS) Module link to access the most up-to-date version of our Food Security Curriculum Module (last updated 02/23/2021) which is currently being field-tested. All student and teacher worksheets and handouts are attached as additional pages to the end of each corresponding lesson. If you would like to field test these lessons, please email us at see@isbscience.org.

Assessments

Begin this module (Lessons 1-7) by administering this FS Pre/post-assessment (Google Doc | Word Doc) to all students. Assign each student an ID number that they will place at the top of this document as well as the post-assessment at the end of the module. Pre- and post-assessments can be compared using ID numbers (so as not to identify specific students) and allow Systems Education Experiences to show impact of this module on student growth. Please consider sending electronic versions of all pre- and post-assessments, as well as any other student work, to see@isbscience.org.

Resources

For your convenience, the following are quick links to resources required for Lesson FS1 (beginning on page 4 of this main PDF).

Extensions

Important Organizations
  • World Health Organization: WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, communicating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. (http://www.who.int/about/en/)
  • World Bank: The World Bank is a United Nations international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs. The World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group, and a member of the United Nations Development Group. (http://www.worldbank.org)
  • World Trade Organization: The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. (http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/whatis_e.htm)
  • United Nations: The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. (http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/index.shtml)

If you would like to access the previous version of this lesson (now out of date), you can click here to download the old version from October 2015.