Understanding Nutritional Needs

Overview

In this second lesson of the Healthy Food Truck Challenge, students investigate the nutritional needs of teenagers and consider how food choices support energy, growth, concentration and wellbeing. They build on prior learning about the food truck brief and begin using reliable evidence to make realistic menu decisions.

Learning intentions

• WALT identify important nutritional needs for teenagers, including energy, fibre, healthy fats, salt and key nutrients.
• WALT explain how different foods support physical, mental and social wellbeing.
• WALT distinguish reliable nutrition information from opinion, marketing or unsupported claims.
• WALT apply nutrition knowledge to choices for a healthy food truck menu.

Success criteria

• I can describe why teenagers need a range of nutrients.
• I can explain how particular foods support energy, digestion, growth or wellbeing.
• I can identify features of a reliable nutrition information source.
• I can use evidence to justify a food choice for the food truck.

Curriculum links

• Health Education / Nutrition: understanding that knowing what is healthy does not always lead to healthy choices.
• Health Education / Practices (Nutrition): analysing influences on nutrition choices and practising informed, realistic decision-making.
• Wellbeing and Hauora: considering how food choices can support physical, mental/emotional and social wellbeing.
• Key competencies: thinking; managing self; participating and contributing; using language, symbols and texts.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Hook and retrieval. Display the question, “Could a food truck sell only ‘healthy’ food and still meet teenagers’ needs?” using the opening question slide. Students complete a quick think-pair-share, then recall one idea from Lesson 1 that could influence a food choice, such as cost, taste, culture, time or friends.

2. 5–15 min · Direct teaching: what teenagers need. Use the nutritional needs teaching slides to introduce the purpose of energy, fibre, healthy fats, salt, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and water. Explain that nutritional needs vary with age, body size, activity, health and individual circumstances; avoid calorie targets, weight-based judgement or labelling foods as “good” and “bad”. Students complete a nutrient-purpose table on the teenager nutrition investigation worksheet, recording one function and two possible food sources for each nutrient.

3. 15–25 min · Food and wellbeing connections. Model one example, such as oats with yoghurt and fruit: carbohydrates can support energy, fibre supports digestion, and protein supports growth and repair. Discuss how food can also affect concentration, mood, cultural connection and shared enjoyment. Students work in pairs to select three foods from the worksheet and explain which aspects of wellbeing each could support. Invite pairs to share one explanation using the stem: “This food may support wellbeing because…”

4. 25–42 min · Source reliability investigation. Introduce the reliability checklist on the reliable-sources checklist slides: author or organisation is identifiable; information is current; claims are supported by evidence; language is balanced rather than sensational; and the purpose is educational rather than mainly selling a product. In groups of four, students examine the short source examples on the source evaluation tasks. They classify each as more reliable, needs checking or unreliable, and justify their decision. Emphasise that social media posts, influencers and packaging can contain useful questions but should not automatically be treated as expert evidence.

5. 42–53 min · Food truck application. Display the food truck decision challenge. Each group chooses one proposed menu item and uses the worksheet to identify its likely nutrients, wellbeing benefits, possible concerns such as high salt or low fibre, and one realistic improvement. Groups must support their recommendation with information from a reliable source or class notes. They prepare a 30-second pitch: “We recommend… It supports… We would improve it by… Our evidence is…”

6. 53–60 min · Share and exit check. Hear three or four group pitches and invite students to challenge ideas respectfully by asking, “What is your evidence?” Students complete the final section of the individual exit reflection: explain one teenager nutritional need, name a food that may help meet it, and write one feature of a reliable nutrition source. Collect worksheets to inform the next lesson’s menu planning.

Resources

• the Understanding Nutritional Needs slide deck
• the teenager nutrition investigation worksheet
• Projector or interactive display
• Pens or highlighters
• Access to teacher-selected nutrition information examples
• Whiteboard and markers
• Timer
• Group table signs or role cards

Assessment

• Listen during retrieval and pair explanations for prior knowledge and misconceptions, particularly the idea that one food is “healthy” for everyone.
• Check nutrient-purpose tables and source classifications while circulating; ask students to explain their evidence rather than simply accept classifications.
• Use the exit reflection to assess understanding of nutritional needs and reliable information. Keep a record of students requiring reteaching before the menu-design lesson.

Differentiation

• Provide a word bank and sentence starters such as “Fibre helps…” and “I trust this source because…”. Allow students to use the class notes and read source examples with a partner.
• Give each group roles such as reader, evidence checker, recorder and speaker to support participation and managing self.
• For EAL learners and students needing literacy support, use clear examples, chunked instructions, paired reading and oral responses before writing. Do not require students to disclose personal eating habits, health conditions or body size.
• Extend confident students by asking them to compare two menu items, consider a trade-off such as cost or cultural suitability, and propose an improvement without reducing the food to a simple healthy/unhealthy label.