Energy After the Feast: Holiday Activity – Teacher

Summary

Students sort post-holiday meal items into energy recovery pathways, then use embedded energy data to reason through the trade-offs between recycling, composting, food donation, and landfill. The activity includes a sorting card set, quantitative estimation questions, a reflect-and-analyze section, and an optional CER extension. Works for a high school earth science or environmental science unit on energy systems and waste; adaptable for upper middle school with scaffolding.