Ms. Kantorski's WebQuest:
(grades 9-12)
Fast Food Junkies BEWARE!!!
In this WebQuest activity, students will:
- search the Internet for nutritional fast food facts.
- investigate the relationship between fat grams and calories.
- develop a model to predict the calorie or fat content.
Introduction:
The convenience of fast food restaurants is hard to resist as life becomes more complex. Hey, what harm is there in grabbing a burger with fries? If you are a fast food addict, beware! This WebQuest may just turn you into a health nut.
Task:
Using internet resources, you will obtain the calorie and fat(grams) content for burgers made in three popular fast food restaurants.
Assuming a linear relationship, you will develop a mathematical model to predict the calories or fat content in fast food burgers.
The Process:
1. For each of the three fast food chains, Burger King, McDonald's, and Wendy's, find and the fat and calorie content for all of the beef burgers.Cross reference both resources below and decide which one to select. Where did you find your data?
2. Create a table to organize the information you are collecting. This is where you will list all three fast food chains and their corresponding data. You will need to submit this table, so neatness counts! Set up the table like this:
| Table |
| Company Name | Fast Food Item | Fat(grams) | Total Calories |
| McDonald’s | Hamburger | ?? | ??? |
| McDonald’s | Cheeseburger | ?? | ??? |
3. Generate a scatterplot using the TI-82/83 graphing calculator comparing burger fat(x-axis) to burger calories(y-axis). Print out and label(with the variables you selected) your scatterplot graph. (You will have to link up to a computer to do this.) Print out your parameters as well. Give a written explanation as to how and why you chose those parameters.
4. Find an equation to describe this plot in
standard
and
y-intercept form. Define your variables and show all of your work explaining each step.
5. McDonald's has created a new burger in honor of Poland and named it the Polka Pickleburger. It is a quarter pound kielbasa patty smothered with onions, cheddar cheese, pickled cabbage and topped with a sesame seed bun. Sounds good doesn't it? It has not made the nutrient charts yet but it contains 662 calories. Knowing the number of calories in the Polka Pickleburger, how could you predict the grams of fat it contains? Explain. Justify your answer mathematically.
6. Using your EQUATION predict:
- the number of calories in 15 grams of fat.
- the number of calories in 40 grams of fat.
- the grams of fat in a burger with 250 calories.
Justify these answers mathematically.
7. What is your y-intercept("calorie"-intercept) value and does this make sense? Why or why not? Explain.
8. How many calories per 1 gram of fat does your equation predict? Explain.
Conclusion:
In this activity, you used the Internet to collect data and made a mathematical model to make predictions.
Extension:
(for extra points on your Final)
Search the Internet using any of the search engines below to find the world's largest burger. From the burger's pound quantity and from what you have completed above,
how could you determine the calorie and fat content of the world's largest burger? Explain. What would you predict for its' nutritional facts? Justify your answer mathematically.
Resources:
The Fast Food Dining Guide
Cyber Diet Fast Food Quest
Yahoo
Lycos
Google
