Teacher-awareness program showcases modern agriculture
This article was taken from the KansasFarmer - Soy Notes for Kansas soybean farmers; June 2018 pg. 21.
With each generation becoming further removed from agriculture, many teachers and students today have not had the opportunity to visit rural America, tour a farm or ranch, or meet someone who works in production agriculture.
The Kansas Soybean Commission (KSC) partnered with the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) to launch a teacher-awareness program that creates an opportunity for teachers and students to learn about the modern technologies used to produce food.
The immersion, created for high school science and social studies classes, will support and promote the Discovering Farmland curriculum. To drive student engagement, it incorporates 230-degree videos of a pig farm and two companion activities that explore aspects of animal care and sustainable foods production.
The program encourages farmers to be present during the lessons to provide perspective about how agriculture continuously is improving and to answer students' questions.
"The Commission is proud to partner with USFRA in this effort. We believe teachers and students should have access to agricultural resources even if they are in an urban or suburban setting," said KSC Vice Chairman Lance Rezac, Onaga.
"Because today's students will be making tomorrow's decisions, it's important they know about the many facets of agriculture and its importance to society and our economy," he added.
In addition to the 360-degree video activities, the Discovering Farmland curriculum uses content from the award-winning documentary Farmland, a film by James Moll. It included activities like the Digital Exploration (investigating food-product labels), SMART Farm Virtual Field Trip and interactive lesson plans, which build off four free lesson plans ("Farming as an Industry," "Educated Consumers," "Breaking Down Stereotypes" and "Challenges in Farming and Ranching").
Those activities inspire students in urban areas to gain insight and an understanding of where their food comes from and how farmers and ranchers produce it.
Through the USFRA and Discovery Education partnership, the Discovering Farmland program has reached more than 1 million students, with nearly 20,000 curriculum downloads.
To access Discovering Farmland's lessons plans and activities and to learn more, visit http://DiscoveringFarmland.com on the web.
This article was taken from the KansasFarmer - Soy Notes for Kansas soybean farmers; June 2018 pg. 21.
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