8.5 The Pizza Project - 6 Interactive Lessons

Year 8 pupils become junior food journalists and write the ultimate pizza report in Google Docs. They research, run a survey, chart the results and use AI as a critical friend without letting it do the work. One interactive page teaches the whole unit, so a non-specialist can teach it with confidence.

An email arrives from their new editor: pupils have been hired as junior food journalists. Over six lessons they write a magazine-style report on pizzas from around the world, covering bases, sauces and toppings.

This is the Year 8 project that brings everything together before GCSE:

Google Docs skills (7.4): headings, a contents page, quotes, images, headers and page numbers.
AI used properly (7.6): You are the Author, AI is the Assistant. The Brainstorm Buddy gives ideas, and the Librarian (a search engine) finds real facts on real websites. In lesson 4, AI becomes a critical friend that gives feedback rather than writing for them.
Charts from data (8.3): pupils build their own Google Forms survey, turn the results into a chart, then write about what it shows.

What is in it:

One web page that runs beside the pupil’s own Google Doc. It reads aloud, guides every step, and only unlocks Next when the step is done.
A writing ladder (Bronze, Silver, Gold) linked to GCSE grades, with worked examples, so pupils can see how to move up.
A “you should be here” checkpoint at the end of every lesson, so nobody falls behind without anyone noticing.
A recap starter at the beginning of every lesson.
Stretch tasks for the fastest: Aim Higher, the Great Debates, and Weird Pizzas and the Future.
A final audit and polish before they hand in.
A running joke about pineapple on pizza, and a big opening question: is a pizza a sandwich?

Built for real classrooms:

No logins, no installs and no pupil data stored. Pupils copy their work into their own Google Doc.
Works on shared computers. It is a single HTML file that opens in Chrome.
SEND is never a barrier: read aloud, voice typing, lifelines and prompts.
Teacher Instructions and IT Instructions are included.

These lessons are not better than a good teacher. But they are better than no teacher.

More from keyffsmyff: 8.1 Computing Systems (free), 8.3 Spreadsheets, and Year 8 Python (19 lessons).

Written by Keith Smith, Head of Computer Science at Chenderit School. If it helps you, please leave a review.