Connect food, health, and science through creative PBL ideas for high school nutrition. Use hands-on research to influence healthier choices.

Spice up your health lessons with nutrition research projects that are sure to make your high school class hungry for more. Since March is National Nutrition Month, it’s the perfect opportunity to infuse your curriculum with exciting and meaningful projects that educate and inspire students to think critically about the food they eat. 

Keep them craving more with creative, community-based projects — whether it’s designing an infographic to share with the local community or creating a video blog for the school’s website. These PBL ideas for high school nutrition will spark student curiosity, boost their critical thinking skills, and ignite their passion for health and wellness. 

Fuel up on nutritional science PBL projects

PBL is one of those acronyms that can stand for more than one thing in education. In this case, it can stand for problem-based learning or project-based learning. Whether your classroom focuses on one or both, these ideas will work for either. They require students to apply critical thinking skills and use scientific research to solve the nutrition problems presented. 

Take students beyond the textbooks by showing them how food fuels and impacts the body while empowering them to make healthier life choices. These nutritiously fun PBL ideas for high school nutrition lessons align with NGSS, encouraging students to ask critical questions and carry out investigations. 

Here are a few project ideas to ignite your students’ interests:

• Investigate the role of macronutrients: Have students research the roles proteins, fats, and carbohydrates play in energy levels. They can set up a dietary plan that helps increase energy levels and test it. 
• Discover the link between health and hydration: Research dehydration and how it can affect all areas of health. Help students discover why hydration is so important. 
• Decipher the science behind energy drinks: Investigate why energy drinks give you energy and evaluate the negative effects they can have. 
• Compare fast food vs. homemade food: Use food labels to research the different ingredients in fast and homemade food. Have students create a debate about what is truly healthier.

Chew on these dietary trend PBL ideas for high school nutrition

Dietary trends are constantly changing — and they’re changing fast! While not quite at the lightning speed of technology, it seems like every time you turn around, there’s a new fad diet taking over social media. Why not advocate for health by bringing these trends into the classroom through impactful PBL nutrition ideas for high school? 

Debunk viral food myths through hands-on research. Feed your young minds through these NHES (National Health Education Standards) inspired projects: 

• Discover if DNA diets work: Dive into the microbiome and DNA in terms of nutrition. Create a fun interactive project debunking current myths. 
• Research the benefits of functional foods: Analyze consumer trends and real statistics about functional foods, like collagen drinks. Create a consumer awareness video. 
• Analyze the munchies over mind phenomenon: Probe into how food advertisements and media can influence food cravings and nutrition. Generate an awareness campaign with the findings. 

Savor PBL ideas on the links between food and disease

Explore the connection between nutrition and disease in a way that shows its importance. Does the food you eat really impact your health? The answer is a resounding yes. Let your students dig in and uncover how food choices can prevent disease through hands-on, real-world experiments. 

They’ll gather data, analyze findings, and share their insights with the school community. Whether it’s tackling the latest research or conducting taste-testing experiments, these PBL ideas for high school nutrition will have your students savoring every bite of knowledge: 

• Explore your gut instinct: Research how the gut biome changes with different foods and beverages. Discover if there are foods that are bad for the gut biome or make it more susceptible to illness. 
• Analyze superfoods and their benefits: Use scientific evidence to discover why superfoods are good for you. Explore how to incorporate more superfoods into diets. 
• Answer whether food is medicine: Take on the role of a doctor by discovering how foods can be used to help with certain diseases like high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Have students create a prescription of foods that might reduce medication. 
• Cook up a cure: Take a deep dive into the preventative properties of food by having students look at foods with anti-inflammatory properties. Have them create a recipe book of anti-inflammatory recipes to improve health. 
• Puzzle over the impact of fiber: Answer the question: Does fiber truly help prevent diseases like colon cancer? Then have students create a personal food analysis of their fiber intake to see if they are getting the preventative benefits of fiber. 

Get a taste for how culture and society affect food through research

Food is fuel, but it’s more than that. Culture, tradition, and societal norms are deeply ingrained in the food the food you eat and buy. Even a person’s thoughts on nutrition are shaped by the culture and area in which they live. 

Incorporate community and action into your PBL ideas for high school nutrition by looking at more than just the science. Examine how global food systems, economic status, and family traditions shape the food on your plate through these deliciously engaging ideas. 

• Provide healthy food for every table: Compare how diets are different for those of different socioeconomic statuses. Have students create an infographic to inform the community of inequalities in healthy nutrition. 
• Get a taste of culture: Discover how culture, heritage, and traditions affect how people eat around the world. Provide a poster comparing at least two different cultures’ dietary habits. 
• Investigate the power of the family meal: Explore how family meals can bring generations and communities together. Design a slide presentation to show the facts. 
• The power of tradition on nutrition: Compare historical data on how diets and meals have changed. Break down whether the changes have been good or bad for society as a whole through a research presentation. 
• Bite into local delicacies: Investigate the importance and benefits of locally sourced foods. Have students make a community action plan for improving local food source availability. 

Gather PBL ideas for high school nutrition to get students started

While it’s great to have detailed ideas to follow, you might also try these quick topics to get students brainstorming original projects:

• Athlete nutrition
• Socioeconomic status and nutrition
• Heart and nutrition
• Food and religion
• Heart disease and food
• Macronutrient deficiency
• Food waste reduction
• Supermarket marketing strategies
• Sugar and health
• Common nutrition deficiencies
• Food insecurities 
• Convenience foods and health
• Meal prep
• Fast food
• Food myths

To get more bang for their buck, students might even use their nutrition project as the basis for a high school science fair project!

Find food for thought with PBL ideas for high school nutrition from TPT

These tasty tidbits are far from all TPT has to offer for your nutrition classroom. Give your students bite-sized projects packed with a powerful punch by adding high school health resources to your lesson plans. It’s a zesty kick that your curriculum needs to energize your nutrition classroom. 

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