Lesson Plan
Instructor:
Course:
Unit Topic:
Lesson Title:
Objectives:
Matt Weade
Meat Science
Consumer Effect
Meat Quality
Grade Level(s):
# of Students:
11-12
8
Broad Goal/Terminal Objective:
• Evaluate beef in order to make more appropriate consumer decisions based on muscle location
and marbling scores.
• Locate the different wholesale cuts on a beef carcass.
• Evaluate color, fat content, and tenderness of a retail cut of beef.
Specific Objectives:
- Evaluate which wholesale cuts on a beef carcass produce the higher quality retail cuts
given the class lecture on a worksheet provided by the teacher.
- Describe which muscles on a beef carcass are muscles of locomotion and stabilizer
muscles given the class discussion on a quiz given at the end of class.
- Analyze which ribeye has the best quality and lowest yield grade given directions by the
teacher during the activity during class.
Connections: (Identify the Standards to Which the Lesson Connects)
Academic Expectations
1.3
2.30
4.2
5.4
Students make sense of the various things they observe.- They watch the lesson to
understand how to grade beef and the importance of that grade.
Students evaluate consumer products and services and make effective consumer
decisions. They use their knowledge of the quality of beef to decide which cuts to
buy as a consumer.
Students use productive team membership skills. They must work together as a team
to complete the grading activity.
Students use a decision-making process to make informed decisions among options.
They have to decide which steak they want in the last question of the quiz.
Core Content
PL-HS-3.1.2
Students will compare products and services based on various factors (e.g., price, quality,
features, availability, warranties, comparison shopping,) to consider when making
consumer decisions.
Context:
Where are the learners beginning?
This is an upper level animal science class. The students have not been taught how to quality or
yield grade carcasses before this lesson. This is the first lesson they have had on meat quality.
Any special circumstances?
None
Any students on IEPs?/What modifications are necessary?
Resources and Materials:
Handouts:
 Picture of a blank beef carcass.
Resources/References:
 Gregg Rentfrow
 Power Point
Materials:
 Quality grading cards.
 Grids.
Instructor Directions/Methods
Announcements/Review:
Content Outline
none
INTRODUCTION (Preparation/Interest Approach/Learning Context)
• Four pictures of ribeye steaks
• Out of these four ribeye steaks, which steak would you
will be shown on a PowerPoint
buy in the grocery store if each steak cost the same
slide.
amount?
• The next slide will ask which
• Why did you choose the steak that you chose?
steak they chose to buy
• What do you look for when you were deciding which
steak to purchase?
• I will tell the students which
• When deciding which steak to purchase, you look at three
steak was actually the better buy. things.
- Color
- Muscle
- Fat Content
• These three qualities will be
what we discuss in class.
Instructor Directions/Methods
Content Outline
LESSON (Presentation, Methods & Application)
Objective 1:
METHOD: __Lecture
Color
• I will show a PowerPoint slide
with a ribeye steak that has the
proper color.
• There are a few variables that
might cause a cut to be dark or
have other quality issues
associated with color.
Objective 2:
METHOD: __Activity
• I will start this portion of the
lesson by explaining what
muscles of locomotion are and
what stabilizer muscles are.
• Each student will be given a
diagram with a carcass on it.
• I will have the same diagram on
the power point and we will go
through the different wholesale
cuts together.
• I will ask the students which
areas on the carcass they think the
best quality of meat will come
from.
• What color are looking for when deciding which steak is
better?
• As you can see by the picture on the power point, the
steak with the bright cherry red color will be the most
desirable steak.
• What are some things that would affect the color of lean
on a retail cut of beef? Why are all beef cuts not the same
color.
- The age of the beef
- Where the cut comes from on the carcass
- Packaging
- Slaughtering practices (How long it took the cow to
be euthanized)
• Does anyone have a guess at what a muscle of
locomotion is?
- Locomotion muscles are muscles that a live cow
uses for movement.
• Why might these muscles not be good for high quality
retail cuts?
• Does anyone know what a stabilizer muscle is?
- Stabilizer muscles are muscles that a live cow does
not use for movement. These muscles are used
more for holding the cow together.
• Follow along with me as we go over which areas of the
carcass are used for high quality beef cuts and which areas
are used for lesser quality cuts such as hamburger.
• Which areas do you think are the muscles of locomotion?
• Which areas do you think are the stabilizer muscles.
• What is the difference between these two? Why are
muscles of locomotion not as high quality as muscles or
stabilizing?
- Locomotion muscles are tougher than stabilizer muscles
because they get worked out more by the animal moving
around. Such areas are the chuck and the round.
Objective 3:
METHOD: ___Activity_
Yield
• What is a yield grade and why is it important?
Instructor Directions/Methods
• I will have the yield grade
information on a slide and show
the students how to use the
calculation to get a yield grade.
• Quality- Most important
Content Outline
• A yield grade lets the producer know how much meat
they will get out of a carcass. It is meant to exclude fat and
bone from the total weight of the carcass.
• How is a quality grade calculated.
- Marbling score
- Color
- Age
• I will explain what marbling is
• Marbling is the intramuscular fat within the cut. It is
in a beef cut.
responsible for flavor and texture. The more marbling, the
higher quality the cut.
• I will explain why age is
• The older the carcass, the tougher and darker the cut will
important in a marbling score.
be. It will also cause the cut to be tougher.
• I will pass out quality cards so
• As you can see, the more marbling a cut has, the higher
the students can see how much
quality score it receives.
marbling it takes for a cut to be
• This is what makes a USDA grader’s job difficult. They
graded Prime, Choice, and Select. are responsible for deciding what grade to give a cut
without using the cards.
• I will split each student into
• Each student will work with the person sitting next to
groups of two.
them.
• After the students are in their
• I have laid out four picture of ribeye’s as a mock rail.
groups, I will give them directions • You will be given seven minutes to complete this task.
for the activity.
- With your partner, determine which ribeye is the
largest and has the least amount of fat beside the
ribeye.
- Look at each ribeye and decide which one has the
most marbling.
- Use the information from the pictures to determine
which ribeye will have the highest quality.
- Write down which quality you would give each cut
and write down your rankings from one to four.
- Sit down with your partner when you are finished.
• After all of the students are
• Why did you place the ribeyes in that order?
finished, we will discuss what
• If ribeye two came from a very old carcass, would you
each groups ranking was and ask
have placed it the same way?
why they placed it in that order.
• Why not?
ASSESSMENT
Formative Assessment
Review
- What is the color that is most desirable in beef?
- What is a muscle of locomotion?
- What is a stabilizer muscle?
Quiz
- Which of those two types of muscles are used
primarily for steaks?
- Which is used for other retail cuts such as ground
beef and roasts?
Instructor Directions/Methods
Summative Assessment
Content Outline
- What is a yield grade and why is it important?
- What is marbling and where is it found in a retail
cut?
- Why is the amount of marbling important to the
grade of the cut?
- What are the three quality grades we discussed in
class?
- If you were given the choice to purchase a ribeye
steak that had a quality grade of choice, but had a
small muscle area vs. a steak that was graded as
select, but had a very big muscle area, which would
be the best decision?