1. US Curriculums
  2. TEKS
  3. Grade 6
  4. Health Education
  5. Analyze internal and external factors that influence healthy eating and physical activity behaviors

Grade 6 · Health Education

Analyze internal and external factors that influence healthy eating and physical activity behaviors

Quarter 2 · Week 6 · TEKS

Standards Alignment

  • TEKS.115.26.10C primary
    analyze internal and external factors that influence healthy eating and physical activity behaviors; and
  • TEKS.115.26.10D primary
    discuss the nutritional differences between preparing and serving fresh or minimally processed foods and commercially prepared or highly processed foods.

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Lesson Overview

This lesson helps Grade 6 students analyze internal and external factors that influence their healthy eating and physical activity behaviors. Students will also discuss nutritional differences between fresh or minimally processed foods and commercially prepared or highly processed foods. The lesson aligns with TEKS standards TEKS.115.26.10C and TEKS.115.26.10D and encourages students to reflect on how their choices affect their health and well-being.

Learning Objectives

  • Identify internal factors that influence healthy eating and physical activity behaviors, such as personal preferences, emotions, and knowledge.
  • Identify external factors that influence healthy eating and physical activity behaviors, such as family, peers, media, and environment.
  • Explain how internal and external factors can either support or hinder healthy eating and physical activity.
  • Describe nutritional differences between fresh or minimally processed foods and commercially prepared or highly processed foods.
  • Discuss how preparing and serving fresh or minimally processed foods can impact nutritional quality compared to highly processed foods.

Success Criteria

  • Students can list examples of internal and external factors affecting their eating and activity choices.
  • Students can explain how these factors influence their behaviors positively or negatively.
  • Students can describe key nutritional differences between fresh/minimally processed and highly processed foods.
  • Students can participate in discussions and role-plays about making healthy food and activity choices.
  • Students can reflect on their own habits and identify ways to improve them based on lesson content.

Prerequisite Knowledge

Students should understand basic concepts of healthy eating and physical activity and be familiar with common food types and physical activities appropriate for their age.

Key Vocabulary

  • Internal factors
  • External factors
  • Healthy eating
  • Physical activity
  • Fresh foods
  • Minimally processed foods
  • Highly processed foods
  • Nutrition
  • Risk factors
  • Protective factors

Materials and Resources

  • Chart paper or whiteboard
  • Markers
  • Sample food packaging or pictures showing fresh and processed foods
  • Scenario cards for role-play
  • Handouts comparing food types and nutritional information

Teacher Preparation

  • Prepare examples of internal and external factors influencing health behaviors.
  • Gather or create visuals showing fresh/minimally processed and highly processed foods.
  • Develop scenario cards illustrating different influences on eating and activity choices.
  • Review TEKS standards TEKS.115.26.10C and TEKS.115.26.10D to ensure alignment.
  • Prepare guiding questions to facilitate discussion and reflection.

Detailed Lesson Notes

Internal Factors Influencing Healthy Eating and Physical Activity

Internal factors are influences that come from within a person. These include personal preferences, emotions, knowledge, motivation, and self-confidence. For example, a student might choose to eat fruits because they like the taste or because they know fruits are healthy. Emotions such as stress or happiness can also affect eating habits and willingness to be active. Understanding these internal factors helps students recognize how their feelings and thoughts impact their health choices.

External Factors Influencing Healthy Eating and Physical Activity

External factors are influences from outside a person. These include family habits, peer pressure, cultural traditions, media messages, availability of food and places to exercise, and school or community environments. For example, if a student's family often eats fast food, the student might be more likely to eat unhealthy foods. Peers can encourage or discourage physical activity. Media advertisements can influence food preferences. Recognizing these external factors helps students understand how their surroundings affect their health behaviors.

Risk and Protective Factors

Risk factors increase the chance of unhealthy eating or inactivity, such as easy access to junk food or lack of safe places to play. Protective factors support healthy behaviors, like having family meals with nutritious foods or friends who enjoy sports. Students should learn to identify these factors in their lives and think about how to reduce risks and increase protections to improve their health.

Nutritional Differences Between Fresh/Minimally Processed and Highly Processed Foods

Fresh or minimally processed foods are foods that are close to their natural state, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and plain nuts. These foods usually have more vitamins, minerals, and fiber and fewer added sugars, fats, and salt. Highly processed foods are commercially prepared foods that often contain added sugars, unhealthy fats, salt, and preservatives, such as chips, cookies, and fast food. Preparing and serving fresh or minimally processed foods generally provides better nutrition and supports healthy eating habits.

Applying Knowledge Through Role Play and Discussion

Using scenarios, students practice identifying internal and external factors influencing food and activity choices. For example, a scenario might describe a peer offering unhealthy snacks or a family cooking a fresh meal. Students discuss how they might respond and what choices promote health. This practice helps students apply lesson concepts to real-life situations and build skills for making healthy decisions.

Worked Examples

Worked Example 1

Scenario

A student feels stressed after school and wants to eat a snack. They usually choose chips but remember that fresh fruit is healthier. What internal and external factors might influence their choice?

Explanation

The internal factor is the student's feeling of stress and their knowledge that fruit is healthier. The external factor could be what snacks are available at home or what friends eat. If chips are easily available and friends eat them, that might influence the student to choose chips. If fresh fruit is available and the student is motivated to be healthy, they might choose fruit instead.

Answer Guide

Internal factors: stress and knowledge about healthy food. External factors: availability of chips or fruit and peer or family habits.

Worked Example 2

Scenario

Compare the nutritional differences between a fresh apple and a packaged apple-flavored snack. Why is the fresh apple a better choice?

Explanation

A fresh apple is minimally processed and contains natural vitamins, fiber, and no added sugars or preservatives. The packaged snack is highly processed and likely contains added sugars, artificial flavors, and fewer nutrients. Eating the fresh apple provides better nutrition and supports healthy eating habits.

Answer Guide

The fresh apple has more natural nutrients and less added sugar or additives, making it healthier than the processed snack.

Engage

Teacher Activity

Begin the lesson by asking students to think about what influences their food choices and physical activities each day. Write their ideas on the board.

Student Activity

Students share examples of things that affect what they eat and how active they are, such as feelings, family habits, or advertisements.

Explanation

This activity activates prior knowledge and introduces the idea that many factors influence health behaviors.

Examples

  • Students mention personal likes or dislikes, family meals, friends, or media as influences.
  • Students recognize both internal feelings and external pressures affect choices.

Explore

Teacher Activity

Provide students with pictures or examples of fresh/minimally processed foods and highly processed foods. Guide a sorting activity where students group foods and discuss differences.

Student Activity

Students sort food examples into fresh/minimally processed and highly processed categories and discuss what they notice about each group.

Explanation

This hands-on activity helps students observe and compare nutritional qualities of different food types.

Examples

  • Students identify fresh foods as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
  • Students recognize processed foods often have packaging and added ingredients.
  • Students suggest fresh foods are healthier due to less added sugar or salt.

Explain

Teacher Activity

Explain internal and external factors influencing healthy eating and physical activity using examples from students’ ideas and the sorting activity. Discuss risk and protective factors.

Student Activity

Listen and take notes on examples of internal and external factors and how they affect health behaviors.

Explanation

This phase clarifies key concepts and vocabulary, linking student experiences to lesson objectives.

Examples

  • Students can define internal and external factors.
  • Students understand risk factors increase unhealthy behaviors and protective factors support healthy choices.

Elaborate

Teacher Activity

Lead role-play scenarios where students practice responding to influences on their eating and activity choices. Facilitate group discussion on strategies to make healthy decisions.

Student Activity

Participate in role-plays and share ideas about handling peer pressure or family habits to stay healthy.

Explanation

Role-playing helps students apply knowledge and develop skills to manage influences on their health behaviors.

Examples

  • Students suggest polite ways to refuse unhealthy foods.
  • Students identify ways to include more fresh foods at home.
  • Students express ideas to motivate friends to be active.

Evaluate

Teacher Activity

Ask students to write or share examples of internal and external factors that influence their healthy eating and physical activity. Have them explain nutritional differences between food types.

Student Activity

Complete a short reflection or exit ticket describing factors influencing their behaviors and nutritional differences between fresh and processed foods.

Explanation

This assessment checks students’ understanding and ability to apply lesson concepts.

Examples

  • Students identify personal feelings and family or peer influences.
  • Students explain that fresh foods have more nutrients and fewer additives.
  • Students describe plans to improve their eating or activity habits.

Classroom Activity

Students sort food examples into fresh/minimally processed and highly processed categories and discuss what they notice about each group.

Guided Practice

Guided Practice 1

Prompt

Name one internal factor and one external factor that influence healthy eating.

Teacher Answer Guide

Internal factor: personal preference or emotions; External factor: family habits or media influence.

Guided Practice 2

Prompt

Explain why fresh foods are generally healthier than highly processed foods.

Teacher Answer Guide

Fresh foods have more natural nutrients and less added sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats compared to highly processed foods.

Independent Practice

  1. Foundational: Name one internal factor and one external factor that can influence what you eat.
  2. Developing: Explain how your feelings might affect your choice to be physically active or not.
  3. Application: Given a scenario where your friends want to eat fast food but you want to eat a healthy meal, how can you handle this situation?
  4. Analysis: Compare the nutritional benefits of eating a fresh vegetable salad versus a bag of potato chips. What factors influence your choice?
  5. Challenge: Design a plan to increase protective factors and reduce risk factors in your daily eating and physical activity habits.

Independent Practice Teacher Answer Key

  1. 1. An internal factor could be personal taste preferences; an external factor could be family eating habits.
  2. 2. If you feel happy or energetic, you might want to be active; if you feel tired or sad, you might not want to exercise.
  3. 3. You can politely explain your choice and suggest a place that offers healthy options or bring your own healthy food.
  4. 4. The salad provides vitamins, minerals, and fiber with low unhealthy fats, while chips have high salt and unhealthy fats. Internal factors like health goals and external factors like availability influence the choice.
  5. 5. A plan could include choosing fresh foods at meals, limiting processed snacks, setting a daily activity goal, asking family to support healthy meals, and avoiding peer pressure to eat unhealthy foods.

Guiding Questions

  • What influences your food and activity choices?
  • How do your feelings affect what you eat?
  • How do your family and friends influence your habits?
  • What are the differences between fresh and processed foods?
  • How can you make healthier choices despite challenges?

Common Misconceptions

  • All processed foods are unhealthy, but some minimally processed foods can be healthy.
  • Only external factors influence eating and activity choices; internal feelings also play a big role.
  • Fresh foods are always expensive and hard to find, but many fresh foods are affordable and accessible.
  • Physical activity means only sports; any movement like walking or playing counts as physical activity.

Differentiation

Support and Intervention

Provide sentence starters for students to describe internal and external factors. Use visuals and real-life examples to explain food types and influences. Allow students to work in pairs for role-play activities.

English-Language Learner Support

Use simple language and pictures to explain key vocabulary. Provide bilingual glossaries for terms like 'processed' and 'nutrition'. Encourage peer support and group discussions to build understanding.

Advanced and Extension

Have students research and present on how media influences eating habits. Challenge students to analyze how cultural traditions affect physical activity. Encourage writing a short essay on balancing internal and external influences for healthy living.

Assessment

  • Observe student participation in sorting and discussion activities.
  • Listen to responses during role-play scenarios.
  • Review notes and reflections during the explain phase.
  • Write two factors that influence your eating habits and explain why.
  • Describe one difference between fresh and processed foods and why it matters.
  • Create a poster showing internal and external factors influencing healthy behaviors.
  • Write a paragraph explaining how to choose healthier foods when eating out.

Answer Guide

  • Name one internal factor and one external factor that influence healthy eating.
    Answer: Internal factor: personal preference or emotions; External factor: family habits or media influence.
  • Explain why fresh foods are generally healthier than highly processed foods.
    Answer: Fresh foods have more natural nutrients and less added sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats compared to highly processed foods.

Real-Life Application

Encourage students to talk with their family about healthy eating and physical activity habits. Suggest they help prepare a fresh or minimally processed meal at home and discuss what influenced their food choices.

Homework or Home Connection

  • Encourage students to talk with their family about healthy eating and physical activity habits. Suggest they help prepare a fresh or minimally processed meal at home and discuss what influenced their food choices.

Lesson Summary

Students learned to identify internal factors like emotions and knowledge, and external factors like family and media, that influence healthy eating and physical activity. They explored nutritional differences between fresh or minimally processed foods and highly processed foods, understanding that fresh foods generally provide better nutrition. Through discussion, role-play, and reflection, students practiced making healthier choices and recognized how risk and protective factors affect their behaviors.

Teacher Notes

Use the exact standards alignment and retrieved-source provenance stored with this enrichment.

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