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TREK 2 Grade 7

Field Correspondents: 

Conducting a School Survey

Supplies: 

Food Journals from Lesson 1 (optional), laptops 

(optional), poster-board or chart paper (optional);

Student Printable: Table Talk – School Survey.

Standards:*

Students will...

Math

•	Solve real-world and mathematical problems

involving the four operations with rational

numbers. (7.NS.3)

•	Understand that statistics can be used to gain

information about a population by examining a

sample of the population. (7.SP.1)

English Language Arts

•	 Conduct short research projects to answer

a question, drawing on several sources and

generating additional related, focused questions

for further research and investigation. (7.W.7)

*Sources: Science education standards: National Academy of 

Sciences, Math and English Language Arts education standards: 

Common Core.

Time Required: 

Three 40-minute sessions

Sample timing:

First Session – Investigate

Second Session – Challenge: Conduct a Survey

Third Session – Evaluate and Reflect

Subject Focus: Math

Lesson Overview:

From music to fashion to what they select from the vending

machine, middle schoolers are highly influenced by their peers.

By studying dietary behaviors of those around them, students

can gain an awareness of how classmates and trends affect 

their own eating habits, and spot improvements that could be

made by friends and family.

In this lesson, students will begin by reviewing their own

eating patterns. From this analysis, they will create hypotheses

about the eating patterns of others in their school community,

and develop a survey to identify food trends. By the end of the

lesson, students will know the most and least popular foods at 

their school, understand relevant trends, and have recognized

areas for change in their environment.

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to...

•	 Hypothesize and predict based on personal experiences.

•	 Create, write, and conduct a survey investigating the

eating preferences and habits of their peers. 

•	 Communicate survey findings creatively, in visual/graphic ways.

•	 Identify relevant influences on food choices (e.g., family, school

personnel, media, and technology).

• Collaborate with others to advocate for healthy eating at home,

in school, or in the community.

Questions for This Trek

1.	 Why do I like the foods that I do?

2.	 How healthy is my community?

3.	 How healthy do my friends

and I eat at school?

4.	 What healthy food and beverage

options are my friends eating at

school?

Nutrition Voyage — The Quest To Be Our Best: Grade 7 http://teamnutrition.usda.gov

NUTRITION

THE QUEST TO BE OUR BEST

VOYAGE

Nutrition Voyage — The Quest To Be Our Best: Grade 7 http://teamnutrition.usda.gov

U.S. Department of Agriculture • Food and Nutrition Service • July 2012 • FNS-438-B • USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
TREK2Grade 7 Field Correspondents: Conducting a School Survey / 2 of 3

Instructional Steps

1 Investigate

1. Why do I like the foods that I do?

	 Ask students about their favorite foods. (If you’ve

completed Trek 1, have students analyze their Food 

Journals for their most frequent choices.) Why do

they like these foods? If they grew up in a different

State or country, would they have different favorites?

Why or why not?

2. How healthy is my community? What foods 

are the most and least popular?

	 Tell students that their next mission is to uncover

how healthfully their community eats. First, ask

and discuss what students think it means to be 

“healthy.” How does making healthy choices (such

as following the Dietary Guidelines for Americans at 

http://www.choosemyplate.gov) help kids to do 

better at the things they enjoy (for example: sports,

dance, art)? Next, talk about healthful eating at your

school. What foods do students think are the most

and least popular among their peers?

2 Challenge: Conduct a Survey 

3. Introduce the Student Printable: Table Talk – 

School Survey. Ask students how they might go

about finding out about food habits at school. For

example, how can they find out how healthfully their

friends eat at school? Or, what healthy options are

available at school? (Prompt them with the idea of

creating a survey.) Invite small groups to review Table 

Talk – School Survey. Have them become familiar

with the questions, and add additional questions

they’d like to explore/investigate.

4. Use the printable to create hypotheses. Ask the 

groups to predict how they think the survey will turn

out. Have them create hypotheses that the survey will

answer. What do they think they will uncover? How

might they rephrase certain questions to best suit their

own school/community?

5. Undertake the Class Survey. Have groups discuss

goals for the survey––what can students do with

the information to inspire change? Together, create

a master survey using the best wording, and add

on questions from each group. The survey may be

conducted in person or distributed via email, blog,

Web site, or by hand. If distributing surveys, let

respondents know how, and by when, their surveys

will be collected. For example, participants can email

them, print them out, or fill them in by hand. Decide on

a method beforehand that will make it most convenient

for your class and survey participants.

Tips for Conducting Surveys

•	Avoid leading questions. For example, “Don’t you drink water every

day at school?” leads people to say “yes.” Instead, try “Do you drink

water at school? How often?”

•	Use measurable questions. It can be difficult to analyze questions that

are too broad or open-ended. Yes or no questions, multiple choice, and

those with a “defined” answer (such as a number) can be more easily

categorized and compared. Continue

U.S. Department of Agriculture • Food and Nutrition Service • July 2012 • FNS-438-B • USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Nutrition Voyage — The Quest To Be Our Best: Grade 7 http://teamnutrition.usda.gov
TREK2Grade 7 Field Correspondents: Conducting a School Survey / 3 of 3

3 Evaluate

6. Analyze. Once surveys have been collected, compile

and inventory the results. You may want to create a

master list, using either a spreadsheet or document 

program, to make it easier to analyze the answers.

Next, divide the questions and their results among

groups. Have each group analyze the results of

the question(s), and come up with a visual way to

communicate and represent the information. Students 

may create graphs and charts, and display them in a

poster, slideshow, on a blog or wiki, or even in a 3-D art

installation using food packaging. Encourage students

to be creative with their presentations!

7. Share. Have each group present its findings to the

class. What overall trends do students notice? Are

students’ favorite foods generally healthy choices?

Discuss how the availability of healthy foods might

influence how often students eat those foods and how 

students’ food preferences are formed over the years.

4 Ref lect

8. Explore the idea of “influence.” Ask: How do

your friends and family influence your food choices?

What other factors influence you (for example: ads,

marketing, and availability)? Invite students to write

in their journals about the connections between the

survey results and their own eating habits. How are

their food choices similar to or different from other 

kids at your school? What influences do they see?

9. Strategize. As a class, discuss where students 

see room for improvement. What changes can the

community make to enable students to feel and do

their best (for example: eat more fruits, vegetables,

and whole grains in accordance with the Dietary 

Guidelines for Americans)? What messages would

students like to share with others? Brainstorm the

different ways students can share messages with

the community (for example: posters, blog entries,

newsletters, videos, or presentations).

End of Trek

Extension Ideas

•	 Have students turn their healthy messages into posters to display

around school. 

•	Publish and discuss the survey results in the school paper.

•	Repeat the survey after completing Trek 3: Leading the Way to see 

if any changes have resulted from students’ efforts.

•	 Create a challenge to encourage other classes or grades to try a new

healthy food they haven’t tried before.

•	 Have students read newspaper articles or watch online videos about

other communities that are introducing healthier food to their schools. 

U.S. Department of Agriculture • Food and Nutrition Service • July 2012 • FNS-438-B • USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Nutrition Voyage — The Quest To Be Our Best: Grade 7 http://teamnutrition.usda.gov
NUTRITION

THE QUEST TO BE OUR BEST

VOYAGE TREK2 Grade7

Table Talk: 

School Survey

Use the survey below to discover more about the eating habits at your school. How healthy do you and your friends eat at school? What healthy options are

available? Alternatively, use the questions as inspiration to write your own survey. Attention participants: If you run out of space, use the back of this sheet.

More than

once a day

Once

a day

2-3 times

a week

Once

a week

Less than

once a week

1. How often do you eat fruits at school? (Check one)

2. How often do you eat vegetables at school?

3. How often do you eat whole grains at school (whole-wheat bread, 

pasta, or tortillas; brown rice; oatmeal; popcorn)?

4. How often do you eat food from...

 The school vending machine

 The school cafeteria

 School fundraisers

Other school sources (snack bar, kiosk)

5. What beverage do you drink most often at school? Milk Soda 100% Juice Water Other: 

6. What are your three favorite foods available at school?

Why are they your favorites? 

7. What are your three least favorite foods available at

school? Why are they your least favorites?

8. Why do you choose the foods you do? Rank the reasons

from most to least important: 

(1-5; 1 = most important, 5 = least important)

 Packaging Cost Taste Convenience Health Locally 

grown

9. What whole grains, fruits, vegetables, or other healthy

foods do you wish were available at school?

Insert other food-related questions:

10.

11.

12.