Active learning ideas
Reading food labels is a vital consumer skill that empowers students to look past marketing claims and understand what is actually in their food. This topic covers how to interpret the Nutritional Information Panel (NIP), the ingredients list (ordered by weight), and the significance of the Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS) in Singapore.
Activity 01
Students rotate through stations with different food packages. Station 1: 'Sugar Sleuths' (calculating teaspoons of sugar), Station 2: 'Sodium Spies' (comparing salt in chips), Station 3: 'Ingredient Investigators' (finding hidden fats).
How do we read a nutritional information panel?
Activity 02
Pairs are given two similar products (e.g., two brands of 3-in-1 coffee). They must use the NIP to decide which one is truly the 'healthier choice' and explain their reasoning to another pair, focusing on sugar and saturated fat content.
What do the ingredients lists tell us about a food product?
Activity 03
Using a 'virtual supermarket' (photos or actual empty boxes), students are given a shopping list with specific health goals (e.g., 'find a cereal with less than 10g of sugar'). They must 'race' to find the best product by reading the labels accurately.
How can the Healthier Choice Symbol guide our purchases?
A few notes on teaching this unit
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
The 'per serving' column is the same as the 'per 100g' column.
Students often misread the total sugar because they don't realize a small bottle might contain two servings. Hands-on math exercises comparing the two columns help them see how manufacturers can make a product look healthier by using small serving sizes.
If a product has the Healthier Choice Symbol, I can eat as much of it as I want.
The HCS means a product is healthier *relative* to others in its category, not that it is a 'superfood.' Peer discussion can help clarify that portion control is still necessary even for HCS products.
Methods used in this brief
Factors Influencing Food Choices
Students examine the various physiological, psychological, and social factors that influence what people eat. They reflect on their own eating habits and cultural food practices in Singapore.
8 methodologies
Planning Meals for Teenagers
Applying nutritional knowledge to plan balanced and appealing meals for adolescents. Students use nutritional guidelines to design menus that meet the specific energy and growth needs of teenagers.
8 methodologies