Elemental

Produced by FunKids Radio and the RSC, this short snippet uses Kareena and her superhero friend K-Mistry to introduce children to components of food such as iron, calcium and carbohydrates.

This podcasts can be used as a ’hook’ when introducing the topic to your students, or at the end of a lesson to stimulate discussion about what they have learnt.

If you teach primary science, see the headings below to find out how to use this resource:

Skill development

Children will develop their working scientifically skills by:

• Asking their own questions about scientific phenomena.
• Using appropriate scientific language and ideas to explain, evaluate and communicate their findings.
• Selecting and planning the most appropriate ways to answer science questions, including:
  • Grouping and classifying things.
  • Finding things out using a wide range of secondary sources.

Learning outcomes

Children will:

• Recognise/describe the importance for humans of diet, exercise and lifestyle on the way their bodies function.

Concepts supported

Children will learn:

• The roles that vitamins, which contain particular elements, play in providing extra nutrition for the human body.

Suggested activity use

This activity provides a useful hook into children researching components of different foods, such as iron, calcium and carbohydrates, and how these provide nutrition for the body, e.g. calcium for teeth and bones.

Children could work in groups to use secondary sources to research certain foods, and what they contain.

Practical considerations

A range of foods and vitamins and their packaging will need to be provided for children to observe and research.

Information about the different elements may need to be researched beforehand and put into language that is accessible for children.

Relevant websites giving information about the vitamins and the elements they contain may need to be researched and provided to the children to help them with their research.