PBL Title: Individuals Investigate the Safety of Utilizing Microwaves to Cook Food

Profile Sheet

PBL Title: Individuals investigate the safety of utilizing microwaves to cook food

Teacher: Alyssa Pettie

Primary Subject Area: Science

Outside Subject Area:English Language Arts

Grade Level: 5th Grade

Class Time: Ten 50-minute periods (equivalent to 2 weeks total class time)

Description of Student Roles & Problem Situation:

Coppertale Microwaving Industries is being sued by multiple families of individuals who have claimed that they have experienced an array of alleged health issues in response to using the company’s microwave products for cooking food in their homes. Students will act as one of three possible roles, research and collaborate among their groups, and provide possible solutions to the safety of microwaves as they report to the Judge, Jury and primary lawyers overseeing this case. The three student roles are as follows: Engineers who designed the microwaves, the Food and Drug Administration and medical doctors.

Adaptations for students from a non-Western culture:

For any students participating in this PBL assignment that are originally from a non-Western culture I can provide the following accommodations:

Providing specific feedback on assignments
Because writing conventions vary from culture to culture, I can allow extra time for re-writes of the formal proposal paper (I can proofread before final submission)
Use visuals to share information rather than overcrowded text documents as resources. Too much text might overwhelm the student.
Because replying “No” to a question such as, “Do you understand?” is considered disrespectful in many non-Western cultures, I can rephrase the question to “What more can I tell you about X?” to ensure the student fully understands the subject matter.
Positive reinforcement

Adaptations for ESOL students:

For my ESOL students participating in this PBL assignment I can provide the following accommodations:

Extended time to complete activities and assignments
Provide a summary or outline of the meet the problem documents and attached resources
Divide primary information into smaller chunks
Introduce and simplify all key vocabulary and concepts before beginning of the lesson
Utilize visuals for easier understanding
Provide bilingual dictionaries in the ESOL student’s native language

Adaptations for students with disabilities:

For any students with disabilities participating in this PBL assignment I can provide the following accommodations:

Frequent breaks
Extended time to complete activities and assignments
Positive reinforcement
Present key subject matter orally
Paraphrase subject matter
Break down assignment into smaller, more manageable parts

Title, Learner Characteristics, Florida Standards

Teacher: Alyssa Pettie

Primary Subject Area: Science

Class: General Science

Class Level: Regular

Grade Level: 5th

Outside Subject Area: English Language Arts

PBL Title: Individuals investigate the safety of utilizing microwaves to cook food

Florida Standards in Science:

SC.5.P.9.1: Investigate and describe that many physical and chemical changes are affected by temperature. A. Matter can undergo a variety of changes. B. Matter can be changed physically or chemically.

Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning

SC.5.P.10.2: Investigate and explain that energy has the ability to cause motion or create change. A. Energy is involved in all physical processes and is a unifying concept in many areas of science. B. Energy exists in many forms and has the ability to do work or cause a change.

Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning

Florida Standards in Language Arts:

LAFS.5.SL.2.4: Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

Level 2: Basic Application of Skills & Concepts

Learner Characteristic #1, Physical:

“Fourth and fifth graders can sit quietly for extended periods and concentrate on whatever intellectual task is at hand.” (pg. 89)

Justification:

This will be an important component in completing this project as it requires students to spend time on it over the course of a couple of weeks. It is not an assignment that is simply submitted by the end of a single class period.

Learner Characteristic #2, Social:

“Friendships become more selective and gender-based,” and these relationships are often built upon “common ideas, outlooks, and impressions of the world.” (pg. 90)

Justification: I will have to remember this characteristic in regards to the social realm when I am designing teams for collaboration and when I am assigning student roles. I want my students to be able to work well together so that they may each excel on this project. In order to do this, I am going to have to assign students to the same team based on some common interest or by gender.

Learner Characteristic #3, Social:

Children of this age become “increasingly concerned with being accepted by their peer group and do not have enough self-assurance to oppose group norms.” (pg. 90)

Justification: I do not want to group together students that “follow” each other, but rather split them up. This is to ensure that I steer away from creating groups that are preoccupied with being accepted by their peers instead of focusing on the task at hand.

Learner Characteristic #4, Emotional:

“Comparison with others is the fundamental basis of self-image during the elementary grades.” (pg. 91)

Justification: Because students of this age are often comparing their academic, athletic and social success with their peers, those that fall short of their peers can be left with a negative self-image. In order to combat negative thoughts of self-worth that may be present in my lower-performing students, I can assign these students with the more coveted student roles in hopes that this will provide these students with a sense of accomplishment. Another alternative is I can pair these students with my higher-performing students that will help push the lower-performers to new heights and encourage them that they can succeed on this project as well.

Learner Characteristic #5, Cognitive:

“Relatively simple memory processes, such as recognition or rote repetition, approach their maximum levels by this point in cognitive development. But the same is not true for tasks that require such advanced memory processes as elaboration and organization.” (pg. 92)

Justification:

This is an important concept to consider while grading the quality of presentation that these students can be expected to offer me. Because students in the elementary grades are not as adept at organizational skills and providing details, the overall quality of the presentation may prove to be a little inconsistent. I will have to take this characteristic of their age level into consideration when I am scoring them because I do not want to be unfair by judging their presentation too harshly.

Learning Outcomes, Student Roles and Problem Situation, Meet the Problem Method

PBL Title: Individuals investigate the safety of utilizing microwaves to cook food

Florida Standards in Science:

Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning

LO #1: Working in groups, students will examine vegetables that have either been heated via a microwave or an oven, and will accurately classify the physical and chemical changes that took place within the two sets of vegetables using personal lab books to record their observations. (Analysis)

Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning

LO #2: Working in groups and using their individual lab books to record their observations, students will accurately inspect and dissect plastic food storage containers for an energy change, both before and after heating them in the microwave. (Analysis)

Florida Standards in Language Arts:

Level 2: Basic Application of Skills & Concepts

LO #3: Given the oral presentation rubric and the provided source material, groups will propose their solutions to the problem and compose a formal proposal document using the associated evidence for support. Students will demonstrate mastery through earning at least a 75% on the proposal document and at least a 3 out of a 5 within each criteria dimension of the presentation rubric. (Synthesis)

Description of Student Roles and Problem Situation:

Meet the Problem Method:

Students will receive an official judicial summons from the plaintiff in this case (see attached) as well as two documents related to the safety of using microwaves for heating and cooking food. One is an article from the online magazine, Medical Daily, and the other is a research paper using multiple sources published on Health-Science.com. Groups are expected to give their formal report, and submit their written proposal of solutions on April 24, 2015.

Microwaves Are Bad For You: 5 Reasons Why Microwave Oven Cooking Is Harming Your Health

Reaching for a frozen entrée from your freezer, reading the simple directions on the back, and popping it into the microwave oven can lead to a meal that took a total of three minutes. And it's a modern convenience utilized in many American households. According to The Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communication and Computation (SMECC), more than 95 percent of American homes own a microwave oven because it is seen as “almost impossible/pretty difficult” to do without.

Here's the rub: while your frozen meal may consist of Lean Cuisine-type products with healthy ingredients and low calories, the way you cook your food directly affects the amount of nutrients your body consumes. This common household appliance can significantly zap the nutritional value of your food and your health, leaving you susceptible to developing health complications due to continuous microwave use, and begging the question: is convenience worth sacrificing your health?

Read More: Tired And Hungry: Brain Scans Point To Why Sleep Deprivation Triggers Junk Food Eating

Microwaves Zap Food Nutrition

Heating your food in the microwave can strip away its original nutrients. What may have started as a nutritious plate of food has now evolved into “dead food” due to the dielectric heating of microwaves. “They bounce around the inside of your [microwave] oven and are absorbed by the food you put in it,” writesDr. Joseph M. Mercola, licensed physician and surgeon. The water molecules rotate rapidly in the microwave and in the food in high frequencies which creates molecular friction and heats up your food. This causes the molecular structure in your food to change, and as a result diminishes the nutrient content in the food.

Microwaves Destroy Breast Milk And Vitamin B-12

The health benefits of vitamin B-12 are instantly negated once heated in a microwave. In a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers decided to examine the effects of microwave heating on the loss of vitamin B-12 in foods like raw beef, pork, and milk. The results of the study show there was a 30 to 40 percent loss of the vitamin when the foods received microwave exposure. The shift of vitamin B-12 to an inactive form of the vitamin was found in foods during the microwave heating process.

The powerful bacteria-fighting agents in breast milk are also destroyed by microwave heating. Findings published in the journal Pediatrics examined the common practice of using a microwave to heat frozen human milk for convenience in intensive care nurseries. Researchers tested 22 freshly frozen human milk samples to test them for lysozyme activity and antibodies by heating the samples for 30 seconds on either a low or high power setting. Breast milk microwaved at high temperatures was found to have greater E coli growth — 18 more times than the control (unmicrowaved) breast milk. Microwaving at low temperatures also dramatically decreased lysozyme activity and also promoted the growth of harmful bacteria for babies.

Microwaves Create Carcinogens In Food

When you head foods that are wrapped in plastic in the microwave, you can create carcinogens in the food. Based on Russian research and German studies, the Russian government issued a warning about the health hazards microwave ovens can have on the human body and the environment. The assembling of microwavable foods are found to contain toxic chemicals such as BPA, polyethylene terpthalate (PET), benzene, toluene, and xylene says Foodbabe.com. The plastic containers used to heat these microwave meals have been found to release the carcinogens along with other harmful toxins into your food which is then absorbed by your body.

Read More: Surprising Beer Ingredients: GMO Corn And Carcinogens

Microwaves Can Change the Makeup of Your Blood

In a Swiss clinical study, researchers found that blood changes in individuals who consumed microwaved milk and vegetables. The eight participants in the study ate a series of food prepared in different ways, including food heated in the microwave. The results of the study showed red blood cells decreased while white cell levels increased, along with cholesterol levels. The non-ionizing radiation of the microwave can affect changes in your blood and your heart rate.

Microwaves Can Change Your Heart Rate

Microwaves can produce effects on your body instantly due to the 2.4 GHz radiation — the frequency of radiation emitted by microwave ovens. A study conducted by Dr. Magda Havas of Trent University found the levels of radiation emitted by a microwave affect both heart rate and heart rate variability. These levels are within federal safety guidelines but tend to cause immediate and dramatic changes in heart rate. If you experience irregular heart beat or any chest pain and regularly eat microwaved food, it might be best to discontinue use.

The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking

by Anthony Wayne and Lawrence Newell

Is it possible that millions of people are ignorantly sacrificing their health in exchange for the convenience of microwave ovens? Why did the Soviet Union ban the use of microwave ovens in 1976? Who invented microwave ovens, and why? The answers to these questions may shock you into throwing your microwave oven in the trash.
Over 90% of American homes have microwave ovens used for meal preparation. Because microwave ovens are so convenient and energy efficient, as compared to conventional ovens, very few homes or restaurants are without them. In general, people believe that whatever a microwave oven does to foods cooked in it doesn't have any negative effect on either the food or them. Of course, if microwave ovens were really harmful, our government would never allow them on the market, would they? Would they? Regardless of what has been "officially" released concerning microwave ovens, we have personally stopped using ours based on the research facts outlined in this article.
The purpose of this report is to show proof - evidence - that microwave cooking is not natural, nor healthy, and is far more dangerous to the human body than anyone could imagine. However, the microwave oven manufacturers, Washington City politics, and plain old human nature are suppressing the facts and evidence. Because of this, people are continuing to microwave their food - in blissful ignorance - without knowing the effects and danger of doing so.

How do microwave ovens work?

Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic energy, like light waves or radio waves, and occupy a part of the electromagnetic spectrum of power, or energy. Microwaves are very short waves of electromagnetic energy that travel at the speed of light (186,282 miles per second). In our modern technological age, microwaves are used to relay long distance telephone signals, television programs, and computer information across the earth or to a satellite in space. But the microwave is most familiar to us as an energy source for cooking food.
Every microwave oven contains a magnetron, a tube in which electrons are affected by magnetic and electric fields in such a way as to produce micro wavelength radiation at about 2450 Mega Hertz (MHz) or 2.45 Giga Hertz (GHz). This microwave radiation interacts with the molecules in food. All wave energy changes polarity from positive to negative with each cycle of the wave. In microwaves, these polarity changes happen millions of times every second. Food molecules - especially the molecules of water - have a positive and negative end in the same way a magnet has a north and a south polarity.
In commercial models, the oven has a power input of about 1000 watts of alternating current. As these microwaves generated from the magnetron bombard the food, they cause the polar molecules to rotate at the same frequency millions of times a second. All this agitation creates molecular friction, which heats up the food. The friction also causes substantial damage to the surrounding molecules, often tearing them apart or forcefully deforming them. The scientific name for this deformation is "structural isomerism".
By comparison, microwaves from the sun are based on principles of pulsed direct current (DC) that don't create frictional heat; microwave ovens use alternating current (AC) creating frictional heat. A microwave oven produces a spiked wavelength of energy with all the power going into only one narrow frequency of the energy spectrum. Energy from the sun operates in a wide frequency spectrum.
Many terms are used in describing electromagnetic waves, such as wavelength, amplitude, cycle and frequency: