This curriculum relevant Education Kit for Secondary Science (Years 7-10) teachers and students will nurture an understanding of the complexities of the natural versus synthetic vitamin community debate. It will help students to understand that all chemicals are not toxins, and that some chemicals are good for us – such as oxygen and water. The Kit will help to educate students about the significance of food and a balanced, nutritious and healthy diet. Using interesting facts, findings and anecdotes, this Kit enables students to make considered and correct decisions about their own, and their family’s vitamin consumption.
This Kit contains a variety of resources for teachers to use with students in the classroom after watching the VITAMANIA documentary. It is designed to enhance the viewing experience and extend learning opportunities.
Kit contents
Curriculum Pointers
View all relevant Australian Curriculum descriptors and codes here.
Downloadable Videos (with a license to screen in educational contexts)
The full-length Vitamania film (90 minutes)
Short clips:
Three songs
Three bonus scenes
Eight ‘cutdown’ clips from the film
Seven extended interviews with featured experts
Lesson plans
Three x 45min lesson plans that use fact-checked content from VITAMANIA to achieve learning outcomes consistent with the Australian curriculum:
Lesson 1: Vitamin Profiles
In this lesson, students will:
– know and appreciate that vitamins are essential to life
– recognise the vitamins we require for a healthy life and that they can all be found in our food
– understand the chemical nature and function of the essential 13 vitamins in human health
Lesson 2: Natural vs Synthetic
Making an informed decision about whether taking natural or synthetic vitamins and dietary supplements is best, can be daunting and confusing. Scientific innovation over the past several decades has increased our understanding of vitamins and enabled technical advances in synthetic production. Yet, the manufacturing procedures of synthetic vitamins remain shrouded in mystery to the general public.
Lesson 3: Supplement Culture
Over the past several decades, a culture of taking vitamin supplements has become widespread. It is estimated that, around the world, over one billion people take a synthetic vitamin pill or dietary supplement every day.
Many people believe that vitamin supplements are always beneficial and that over-dosing is not possible. Concern exists among some scientists and the community that this culture and consumption is based on misunderstandings, misconceptions, is counter-productive to environmental sustainability and is potentially dangerous to humans.
Quiz
20 questions about vitamins of either multiple choice, short answer, fill in the blank, and true or false
Answer Sheet included
Thinking activities
10 research questions about vitamins designed to provoke thought and help form opinions. Answer Sheet included
Answer Sheet included
Debate topics
Three controversial issues surrounding vitamins:
Debate Topic 1: Vitamin Science
Debate Topic 2: Food Fortification
Debate Topic 3: Vitamin Marketing and Promotion
Additional teacher resources
Supporting documents for the classroom:
- Meet The Vitamins – Fun Facts
- Vitamin Profiles
- Vitamin Discovery and Understanding Timeline
- Vitamin Data and Health Benefits
- Natural Vitamin Source List
- Interesting Facts from Vitamania Script
- All About the Vitamania Production
- Vitamania Personal Stories (from the documentary)
- Vitamania Song Lyrics (from the documentary)
- Behind the scenes photos
- Vitamania poster
How to use this kit
This learning resource kit is designed as a full unit of study. It can be used over several lessons as comprehensive study focus unit, or can be utilised in sections according to your teaching and learning needs.
Classroom Viewing
- The Vitamania Documentary provides explanations, investigations and insights that can be watched as a single 90-minute viewing experience
- A variety of supporting specific topic learning clips enhance and reinforce the learning opportunity
- All video content can be downloaded and shared freely across your school network and devices
Lesson Preparation
- All three Lesson Plans use fact-checked content from Vitamania to achieve learning outcomes consistent with the Australian curriculum. Simply follow the Lesson Plans in chronological order for a comprehensive journey of vitamin education.
- Make sure to read the lesson plans prior to class time, as they indicate which video clips are relevant and which materials are required from the provided Teacher Resource Folder. These resources have various applications including classroom learning support for students and the provision of detailed background information for teachers.
- Design your own lessons using the Quiz, Thinking Activities and Debate Topics!
