This site has an interactive game on the Food Pyramid that explains what foods teens need to eat and how much to be healthy. It has a quiz that the students can take after playing the game and print out their results. This would be a good starter activity that introduces the students to the nutrition requirements they need. The site has articles that explain many health issues that concern teens. This is a good place to have students start their research on what makes a healthy meal.
This site is geared toward middle schoolers and has a lot of health information. They can find out more about nutrition by going to the Body tab and clicking on the "More on Body" link at the bottom of the page. This takes them to a site that has information about proper nutrition and what they can do to be healthier. This is a good site to use for researching nutrtional requirements.
This site is from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), an appropriate site for our researchers! Has information on all aspects of children's health and games! The one that would be great to use with the students is Dining Decisions in the Food & Nutrition section. It has the students select 5 items from the cafeteria that are the healthiest to eat. It gives them information about the items after they have chosen them and why they are or are not good choices.
This is a 14+ game for use in teaching and understanding addiction, useful in health and psychology education. It's in English and free to download (PC only)
From the site:
Akrasia is a single-player game that challenges game conventions and is intended to make the player think and reflect. It is based on the abstract concept of addiction, which is expressed metaphorically throughout the game.
This is a free simulation game for 12+ where learners are able to virtually "live" the lives of someone across the globe. They make choices and face circumstances faced by people in those parts of the world, choice available jobs, battle diseases, navigate unstable political terrain. The program is based on all current data from the United Nations, World Health Organization, and other international aid organizations and links with Google maps as well.
This game would be useful for middle school or high school world cultures or politics courses, and also in different enrichment or afterschool activities.
From the website:"Experience life as a:
* Peasant farmer in Bangladesh
* Factory worker in Brazil
* Policeman in Nigeria
* Lawyer in the United States
* Computer operator in Poland
or any of thousands more ...
Through statistically accurate events, Real Lives brings to life different cultures, political systems, economic opportunities, personal decisions, health issues, family issues, schooling, jobs, religions, geography, war, peace, and more. As your students make decisions for their characters and experience the consequences of those decisions they will learn about the world and gain an increased appreciation of their own culture and the cultures of other peoples."
This site has the California standards but the activities could be used with the TEKS. This will tell students how much calcium they need and gives them information on how to get it. This would be a good site for students to check the nutrition they get from the meals they eat outside of school.
This site is for younger kids but is does have the nutrition information for fruits and vegetables and the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of the fruits and vegetables. The students can get the chart from this site, http://www.dole.com/funfacts-chart9-13.html.
The Pacific Science Center runs this site. There are several games that students can play that has them identifying the nutrition they need and in what they eat. This site also helps students learn if what they're eating is healthy for them.
This site has games and a nutrition tracker students can download to keep track of what they're eating. This is a good site for students to get charts to start their research and a shopping list that encourages students to pay attention to the food pyramid.
This site is from PBS kids has students using a virtual kitchen to solve a puzzle and do experiments. It also has experiments the kids can do in their own kitchens and post the results
This site is for elementary students and has interactive games that allow students to explore food safety, nutrition, and what they need to have a healthy body.
Shows the changes of the liver with the use of alcohol. Shows how alcohol travels through the digestive system.
Age Range : 12-16
Time to complete: 30-45 minutes
Its the sames level but it has 3 episodes.
Science and Health
Thumbs UP
Middle to High School Students.
The player needs to run tests on the patient, and then decide what blood type the patient is so that they can give them a blood transfer.
An interactive site with 5 simulations regarding the heart:
Anatomy - construct a model of the heart structure and a model of the heart circulatory pathways.
Disease - learn about diagnostic tools and heart diseases/disorders. Includes a section where learners can "try out" the diagnostic tools.
Exploring the Hospital - Learn about heart catheterization and heart surgeries. Read about medical profession careers
Surgery - Learn about heart bypass surgery and perform a virtual heart bypass surgery
Prevention - learn about prevention of heart disease and follow one patient's life timeline and how his choices affectied his heart health
A mixture of games, simulations, quests, and other educational topics all from a project originally called Games To Teach (archives are available, but notes on the site direct you back to the Education Arcade area. Games in the GTT area are interesting as well -- green games, etc.