Have students read
Exploration 1: Food Packaging from the Companion Reader below
Then students will move on to the task below.
Allow students time to discuss their observations and answer the following questions in their small groups. Then ask the groups to share their observations.
- What differences from a typical grocery store do they notice?
- In what ways was the shopping trip like their own experiences? How did it differ?
- Are there any similar stores in your community?
Ask students to discuss the following:
Homework
Ask students to do the following in preparation for a design challenge.
- What materials are used to package food and household items that your family uses? If students would like to share, have them bring in examples.
- What types of packaging materials are from renewable resources? Nonrenewable resources?
- How much packaging does your family discard in a week?
- What happens to the packaging your family discards? Reuse? Recycling? Trash?
- How much does packaging contribute to the cost of goods your family purchases from the grocery store?
- How important is branding and brand image in packaging design?
- What action could you take to reduce waste from packaging?
Optional: Instead or in addition to the above questions, ask students to weigh and record all the trash that is discarded in their classroom over a period of a week. This may be a good option for students who may not want to share information on household trash.