“Elements Necessary for Life” Project
THE
ASSIGNMENT: You have been asked by the
American Chemical Society (ACS) to design an advertisement which promotes an
element that is necessary for the health and well-being of the human body. You must choose the age group (children,
teenagers, adults, or senior citizens) and gender (male or female) you intend
to target, as the nutritional requirements for your element may change
depending on these factors. Pregnancy
may also be a factor you need to account for.
For example, the daily requirements for the element calcium vary
depending on whether you are male or female, and whether you are a child,
teenager, adult, or senior. In addition
to this, pregnant and nursing women have additional calcium requirements for
their diet. Not every element will have
different RDIs for each of these groups, so you will need to check carefully.
Your
advertisement must be presented in such a way that the average reader in your
age group will understand it. Do not
rely only on text in your presentation.
For example, add some visual aids such as tables to convey information,
or pictures of food where your element can be found.
You
have five (5) options for presenting your advertisement:
1.
Tri-fold
pamphlet (Click
here to see the details of a tri-fold pamphlet.)
2.
Elemental
“baseball” card (Click here to
see the details of an elemental “baseball” card.)
3.
PowerPoint
presentation (Click
here to see the details of a PowerPoint presentation.)
4.
Pre-taped
video commercial presentation (Click here to
see the details of a videotaped commercial.)
5.
Website
(on CD) - (Click
here to see the details of a website.)
The
following are REQUIRED information
for your advertisement:
ü
Element
name, symbol, & atomic number
ü
Target
audience (age group & gender)
ü
Recommended
daily intake (RDI)
ü
Main
food sources of the element
ü
Why
does your body need this element? How
does it help your body?
ü
Problems
if you get too much of this element in your body (include symptoms)
ü
Problems
if you get too little of this element in your body (include symptoms)
ü
Are
mineral supplements containing this element available at the local pharmacy?
(Look specifically for a supplement that
only contains one element, not a multivitamin.
Use a multivitamin as a last resort, and let your audience know that you
are referring to a multivitamin if you do so.)
ü The total cost and
number of pills per package of the mineral supplement
ü The cost of each
pill in the package
ü The number of pills
that would be required to achieve the RDI for your element (This will not
necessarily be the recommended dose it says to take on the package.)
ü
The
average cost for a daily supplement? (If
you use a multivitamin, pay attention to the percentage of recommended daily
allowance of the element in that multivitamin.)
ü
A
bibliography which includes at least three (3) reliable sources (including books, complete website addresses, magazines, etc.)
Click here to get a
copy of the grading rubric for this project.
You
will be working alone on this project. This
project will be worth 35 points.
NOTE: If you have any specific questions regarding
any of the presentation options, see your instructor. Do not make any assumptions. If you are unsure about anything, ask. If you would like to add your own creative
touch or use a different type of presentation, make sure you get approval from
your instructor. Moreover, the stated
requirements for this project must be met regardless of which presentation
option you use.
This
project and its description were developed by Michael Geyer with assistance
from Cynthia Bell. It has been modified
slightly from its original form by Christa Duncan.