Proteins CD-ROM

Subject: Food Technology and Biology
Level: Secondary
Age Group: 14 - 16
Order Number: 4042

Graphics are used to support the awareness of Biological Value and Complementation. Education games are used to help promote recall of various essential aspects of the topic. Scores and number of tries are counted. Students are prepared to ‘have a go’ to improve their scores. They see themselves competing against the computer NOT the teacher. Animation is included to assist motivation and clarity. The activities are designed to include adequate interactivity which helps involve the student. Students can search the database for % protein content without the need for excessive maths operations.

The costing of protein can be easily carried out by entering basic data; in the past nutrition data was obtained from reference books and adequate ability in maths was required. Many of the calculations were repetitive and time consuming. The activity performs all the calculations and the student can then make judgements or conclusions with limited maths ability.

The crosswords and revision activities/games really help recall and familiarity with aspects of proteins and since much of the topic requires recall they can prove useful.

Since the development of the World Wide Web access to information has become much easier and the activities allow web searches during operations so a student who cannot answer a question can perform a search and then get back to the quiz.

All the activities can be successfully used with a digital projector and whole class teaching. The author has used the materials on one to one, small group and whole class teaching and the rest of the class contribute. The author uses these materials regularly and his students sit external exams with Royal Society for the Promotion of Health.

Once purchased, the CD can be freely copied and networked throughout the school.