Introduction

Why do a disproportionate number of young women suffer from severe eating disorders? Eating disorders are threatening the lives of millions of young male and female adolescents each year. Media advertising portrays young people with waif-life figures as having the “ideal” figure”. Often adolescents will go to great lengths to achieve these figures, literally starving themselves to death. Perhaps there is pressure from coaches or dance instructors to maintain an ideal weight to achieve success. Or do peers, family members and friends inadvertently make us feel that we fall short of acceptability due to our lack of the popular conception of the ideal figure?

The Task 

You will be asked to gather research information into a word processing document. You will apply your research to complete the activitites. When you have completed the webquest you will have:

1) A Venn Diagram comparing Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, as well as all your research notes.

2) A Biography Booklet of an individual suffering from or whose life has been claimed as a result of an eating disorder, to add to the classroom bulletin board.

3) A presentation that will inform the learner about either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. The mode of presentation will be determined by each student.

4) A visual representation of the three daily meals (i.e. breakfast, lunch and supper) that accurately depicits serving size, nutritional requirements, variety and ethnicity.

Health

Overall Expectations

• apply living skills (e.g., decision-making, problem-solving, and refusal skills) to respond to matters related healthy eating habits
• relate healthy eating practices and active living to body image and self-esteem;
• adopt personal goals that reflect healthy eating practices;
• identify local support groups and community organizations (e.g., public health offices) that provide information or services related to health and well-being;
• adopt personal food plans, based on nutritional needs and personal goals, to improve or maintain their eating practices;

Specific Expectations

• analyse the effects of undereating (e.g., as a result of bulimia or sports dieting) on health and well-being;

 Language - Writing

Overall Expectations

• communicate ideas and information for a variety of purposes (to outline an argument, to report on observations) and to specific audiences, using forms appropriate for their purpose and topic
• produce media texts using writing and materials from other media
• revise and edit their work, in collaboration with others;

Language - Oral/Visual Communication

Overall Expectations

• listen to and communicate related ideas, and narrate real events in a sequence;
• express and respond to a range of ideas and opinions concisely, clearly, and appropriately;
• contribute and work constructively in groups;

The Process

Research and Inquiry

Create a graphics file in your word processing program and gather pictures, maps, graphs or any other visuals that may be useful in presenting your information. You may add to your graphics file using print media as well (i.e. magazines, newspapers, pamphlets etc.).

As you go through various websites, record research data in a word processing document to be used for future reference. When you have gathered sufficient data, set up a Venn Diagram organizing your information on signs, symptoms and causes of death with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Application of Knowledge Activities

1) Many websites have personal stories, poems and in memoriums. Choose one personal story and prepare, in booklet form, a brief biography of the individual's life. Be sure to include the pressure(s) that may have impacted the desire to be thin. Your booklet must have a cover with a title and the author's name. Each booklet will be added to an interactive classroom bulletin board for others in the class to read.

2) With a partner or individually, prepare your research findings on either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa to present to the class. Be sure to formulate questions to ensure that you are presenting all the necessary information. You may choose the format for your presentation. Some presentation ideas are:

• multi-media
• monologue
• posterboard(s)
• overheads
• role-play
• video

3) Create a visual representation of a three meal plan; breakfast, lunch, supper. (You may want to incorporate restaurant meals as well.) In creating your visualization ensure that you are meeting the following criteria:

• daily nutritional requirements of an adolescent
• accurate depictions of serving sizes for an adolescent
• identify the meal and categorize according to Canada's Food Guide
• variety of foods

Some suggestions for your visualization:

• diorama
• mobile
• plates of food crafted from plasticene, Fimo, Sculpty, play-dough
• prepare actual meals at home and use a digital camera or video to create images, compare serving sizes within a family (e.g. toddler, father)

Internet Resources

At the time of publication all Internet sites were active. Regular maintenance of the site should continue the integrity of each link. In the event that this does not happen, I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/thin/program.html - film footage of PBS movie on anorexia

http://www.caringonline.com/eatdis/topics/athletics.htm - examines athletes and eating disorders

http://www.girlpower.gov/girlarea/bodywise/eatingdisorders/index.htm -facts about eating disorders

http://www.danceart.com/dancerswrite/Autumn.htm- "The Slow Killer" A Dancer's Report on Anorexia

http://library.thinkquest.org/27755/horrorstorie.html -personal accounts of young girls with an eating disorder

http://library.thinkquest.org/27755/ten_stepspb.htm - ten steps to a positive body image

http://users.neca.com/cwildes/ - general information on eating disorders

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/nutrition/pube/foodguid/foodguide.html - Canada's Food Guide

http://www.teachnutrition.org/ie/index.html - an interactive site on nutrition and your knowledge

http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/1996/April/ERapril.1/4_1_96wellness.html - suggestions on how to avoid the trap of a negative body image

http://www.mirror-mirror.org/debbie2.htm - in memorium page for Debbie Fradin

http://www.raderprograms.com/athletes.htm - explores possibility of athletes and dancers being at a higher risk for an eating disorder

http://www.something-fishy.org/ - extensive site on eating disorders, includes a large in-memorium site

http://www.anorexianervosa.org/ - a Canadian site with many links to information

http://www.bibri.com/dedication/memory.htm - an in-memorium site

http://www.andreasvoice.org/ - an in-memorium site and more

http://www.anred.com/ - an extensive reference site on anorexia nervosa and related eating disorders

http://www.eating.ucdavis.edu/ - talks about the first victim (1347-1380) to present day

http://www.open-mind.org/ - offers a number of links to a variety of sites on eating disorders

http://www.hopewell.on.ca - another Canadian site, offers information on treatment available in Ontario as well as personal stories

http://www.eating-disorder.org/celebrities.html - celeb. stories of various eating disorders

http://www.edap.org/ - has information on the media influence, men and eating disorders and statistics

http://www.lambtonhealth.on.ca/ - local support and also a source of media and print materials on eating disorders

Conclusion

Once you complete your webquest, you should have a very clear understanding of the devastation brought on by eating disorders. By looking at anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and examining healthy eating regimes, you will be better able to apply healthy living skills to your daily eating and exercise routines. These living skills will allow you to adopt personal eating habits that will increase your self-esteem while maintaining a healthy body image.

Evaluation Rubrics

Research Rubric

Writing Rubric

Oral Presentation Rubric