Kim's+Journaling+Page

11/1/10 Today I used the Ipad's in my 10th grade Living Environment class for a Diet Analysis Lab. The purpose of this lab was for students to record foods and drinks they consumed over the course of a week and compare their consumption of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, fiber, sodium, and total caloric intake to the recommended levels of their age group, gender, and activity level. Students used the GoMeals application on the ipad to enter in the foods they consumed and recorded this data in their labs. The students were very excited to use the ipads and I noticed the entire period that the students stayed on task. My first period class found the app very easy to use, and had no difficulties finding the foods that they consumed. A handful of students found searching for the foods slightly difficult as they could not grasp what categories their food selections would be under. However, I believe that this is more of a lack of knowledge of the classification of the food than a deficiency in the application. I have done this lab in previous years using a variety of websites and dietary trackers. I believe that this application was far easier to use and collect data from than any previous program I have found. What I also found interesting was, when given the choice on Day 2, to use either the ipad or a laptop with another food calculator, all the students (even the students who had some difficulty finding their food) went right for the ipads and used them the entire class period for the lab. On Day 2, the students seemed to have less difficulty using the GoMeals application. This lab activity was done in a Regents Living Enviornment class, so that students could see a practical application for biochemistry. A basic analysis of the diet was done using this application. However, I could see expanding upon this application for my Nutrition class in the spring semester. Not only could a more throrough analysis of diet be done, but students could also compare different restaurants in the area (the application has a feature in which it uses GPS to map your location and pulls up the menus of local restuarants within a given radius) to evaluate the nutritional information for each restaurant.