6th - 8th Grade ELA Standards:
Speaking & Listening

SL1:
Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

A Chilling Investigation: Students will observe the difference in bacterial count between a hamburger that’s left out at room temperature and a hamburger that’s kept refrigerated. The lab reinforces the concept that food must be properly chilled in order for it to remain safe to eat. This lab will be conducted as a teacher demonstration.

A Closer Look at Fats: This lesson describes the role of fats in food and in the body, and how they serve as a source of energy. It provides information on different types of fats that are listed on the Nutrition Facts label—including total fat, saturated fat, and trans fat—and defines trans fat and cholesterol. The lesson also includes dietary guidance for fat consumption.

A Common Thread: The Significance of Wool in Medieval England: Students will understand how agriculture influenced and shaped culture, class and society during the Middle Ages.

Aeroponic Engineering and Vertical Farming: Students will use the Engineering Design Process to develop and construct an aeroponic garden to grow a food crop. Students will develop and apply an understanding of plant anatomy and physiology related to plant growth and ultimately discuss the possibilities and limitations of using vertical farming to produce our food.

Agritourism: Extreme Farm Makeover: Through project-based learning, students will work in groups to design an agritourism experience that will increase profits for a family-owned farm and provide agricultural literacy opportunities for community members.

At Home on the Range: Students will learn about rangelands by participating in a hands-on activity to grow their own grass to represent a beef or sheep ranch.

Applying Heredity Concepts: Students will complete monohybrid and dihybrid Punnett squares in preparation for taking on a challenge to breed cotton plants that produce naturally blue colored cotton.

Bring Home the Blue, Not the Flu!: Using the context of a county fair livestock show, students investigate how diseases are spread. With a focus on zoonotic disease, students will complete simulations demonstrating the spread of illness and implementation of biosecurity measures as well as complete an online module to deepen understanding of specific diseases and their prevention.

Can We Have Too Much of a Good Thing?: Students will understand that plants require nutrients in the proper concentrations. Students will discover that plants can be damaged or killed by either too many or too few nutrients.

Career Gaming: Through project-based learning, students will design games that will assist others with identifying a variety of agricultural careers, possible emerging agricultural careers, the education required for agricultural career options, and the types of salaries that can be expected in each career.

Career Trek: Students will explore careers in the fields of agriculture and natural resources through online research. They will check their understanding by playing Career Trek—a board game that requires students to identify careers in agriculture and natural resources.

Chain of Food: Students will explore the path food takes along the Farm-to-Table Continuum. They will begin on the farm and investigate food safety issues during processing, transportation, at restaurants and supermarkets, and finally, in their own homes. Teams will identify how food can become contaminated along the continuum and develop and present strategies for preventing contamination at each step.

Cheesemaking: A Science, an Art, and a Craft: Students make fresh mozzarella cheese and explore a career as an artisan cheesemaker as they discover the science, art, and craft involved in the development of specialty cheeses.

Climate Change Phenomena: Bananas in Our Breadbasket?: Students will explore the carbon cycle and evaluate associated phenomena of climate as they discover the impact climate change could have on the farms that produce our food.

Cotton's American Journey: Students will investigate the impact of cotton on the history and culture of the United States. Students will discover the growth and processing requirements for cotton, recognize how the invention of the cotton gin affected slavery, explain how the plantation system was organized, and ultimately understand the role of cotton in the Civil War.

Crop Case Files: Dichotomous Keys: Students will explore the connection between weeds and ecosystem stability, practice observing characteristics by using and creating a dichotomous key, and research and present information on noxious weeds.

Crossed Up!: Students will discover that some items in their own kitchens may be contaminated by bacteria. They will be challenged to hypothesize about where bacteria might be found in kitchens and which items might have the most and the least bacteria. Students will develop awareness that bacteria can spread from surfaces to hands, and even to food, and will hypothesize how to control the spread of bacteria.

Cruisin' for a Bruisin' Food Packaging Specialist: Students will learn that product packaging is a balance between function, food safety, and economics by designing a protective package for shipping perishable fruit. Each package will be presented to the class for evaluation, and the best design will be shipped to test the product's durability.

Culinary Concepts: Through project-based learning, students will develop and manufacture a unique and nutritious food product that includes ingredients that have been sourced locally and can be served in retail outlets or the school cafeteria.

Drones in High-Tech Farming: Students will discover the science behind how a drone works, explore how drones are used in agriculture, and program and operate a drone for the purpose of monitoring grazing sheep.

Digging into Nutrients: Students will gain background knowledge of the nutrient requirements of plants, how those nutrients are obtained by the plant, what farmers must do if the nutrients are not available in soils, and current issues related to agricultural production.

Eggs on the Menu: Students will learn the versatility, function, and nutritional benefit of eggs in a healthy diet; identify the function and role of eggs in a recipe; identify forms of technology used on an egg farm; and understand how eggs are classified by size.

Energy and Biofuels: Students explore the process of fermentation in the creation of ethanol and observe the role enzymes play in the fermentation of starch.

Energy Bar Exploration: Through project-based learning, students will develop, market, and brand a healthy energy bar and packaging to be sold to a target audience.

Enlightened Concessions: Through project-based learning, students conduct surveys with their peers at school about healthy food products they think will be marketable for school concessions. Based on surveys and research, they choose an in-demand product to test in class and then present to a guest panel as a healthy choice.

Fertilizers and the Environment: Students will recognize that fertile soil is a limited resource to produce food for a growing population, describe the role fertilizer plays to increase food productivity, distinguish between organic and commercial fertilizers, and recognize how excess nutrients are harmful to the environment.

Food Safety Sleuths—Food Safety Specialist: Students will learn about foodborne illness, its prevention, and the people and organizations that are involved in food safety. Students will conduct an experiment to learn how hand-washing affects the presence of bacteria on their hands.

Food Scientist for a Day: Students focus on the science involved in the production of our food and explore the high-tech aspects of agricultural production as they learn about careers in food science.

FoodMASTER Middle: Cheese: Students will learn about the Law of Conservation of Mass by exploring environmental factors that can impact protein coagulation in milk (cheese-making process). By making qualitative and quantitative observations, they will test three possible methods of making curds and whey.

FoodMASTER Middle: Eggs: Students will learn the anatomy of eggs and the concept of forming colloidal dispersions called foams as they learn the anatomy of an egg, create a foam by whisking egg whites, investigate the effect of whisking time on foam, and compare and contrast the effect of different substances on the stability of foam.

FoodMASTER Middle: Energy Balance: Students will identify the importance of a healthy diet, examine how to meet current Dietary Guidelines, and determine the potential energy (kilocalories) of a peanut through measurements obtained during teacher use of a bomb calorimeter. Students will make comparisons to the actual nutrition facts label and identify possible sources of error.

FoodMASTER Middle: Fats and Oils: Students will explore the fat content of commonly consumed foods, observe physical properties of lipids (margarine, butter and vegetable oil) to distinguish between saturated and unsaturated fat, and observe the action of emulsifiers in heterogeneous and homogenous mixtures.

FoodMASTER Middle: Food Safety: Students will understand water-based state changes that occur at varying temperatures, recognize the importance of the proper hand washing technique for general health and disease prevention, understand the factors that impact mold growth and their application to food safety, and explore ways to prevent foodborne illness.

FoodMASTER Middle: Fruits: Students will learn the concept of enzymatic browning and methods for decreasing enzymatic oxidation by observing three types of fruit. Students will also understand the relationship between oxidation and antioxidants and the role fruits play in health and nutrition.

FoodMASTER Middle: Grains: Students will learn the physical components and nutritional composition of a grain, understand the function of the protein gluten in the structure of bread products, and investigate how mechanical and chemical digestion begins with salivary amylase in the mouth.

FoodMASTER Middle: Milk: Students will understand the nutritional components of milk (carbohydrates) as they test three types of milk for the sugar glucose before and after adding the digestive enzyme lactase to determine which milk(s) contain the sugar lactose. They will also explore the nutritional composition and health benefits of consuming milk, research food sources of calcium, vitamin D, and phosphorus and devise ways to add bone-strengthening food to their diet.

FoodMASTER Middle: Protein: Students will examine dietary sources of protein and generally understand the relationship between protein synthesis and amino acids, while completing an activity to use beads as a representation of amino acids to construct proteins (polypeptide chains). Students will identify complete and/or incomplete proteins found in both animal and plant food sources.

FoodMASTER Middle: Sugar: Students will learn the concept of simple carbohydrates (sugar) in the diet and their role in providing energy to the body, compare saturated sugar solutions, and evaluate the sugar content of common beverages and sugar consumption within their own diet.

FoodMASTER Middle: Vegetables: Students will learn the concept of pH and the impact of acids and bases on plant pigments, explore the impact of acids and bases on plant cell structure, and discover the health benefits of consuming vegetables.

FoodMASTER Middle: Weights and Measures: Students will use common household measurement tools and scientific measurement tools and various methods of measurement to compare for accuracy. Students will also calculate percent error by comparing their measurements to actual values and apply these principles to analyze and decipher the components of a food as indicated on the nutrition facts label.

FoodMASTER Middle: Yogurt: Students will learn the role of bacterial fermentation and evaluate the effect of fat content, sugar content (lactose), and temperature in bacterial fermentation as they make yogurt.

From Cow to Carton: Milk's Journey to the Consumer: Students will explore milk production in the United States and explain the benefits of homogenization, pasteurization, and fortification of milk.

Geography and Climate for Agricultural Landscapes: Students will discover how geography and climate influence the crops that are grown and the livestock that is raised in each state.

Grow It Now, Drive It Later?: Students will discover potential careers in agriculture with a focus on the growing field of biofuel development.

Growing America: Students determine corn anatomy and function of plant parts, identify stages of plant development in corn, and research how temperature plays a role in corn growth as they calculate growing degree units (GDUs) for a region.

Growing Pulses: This lesson introduces agriculture as a managed system that has environmental impacts and how farmers employ practices such as growing pulses to minimize these impacts.

Hands Off, Bacteria!: This lab challenges students to identify the variables involved in hand-washing. They will design labs to discover the best method for washing their hands to reduce the spread of bacteria. Students will also analyze and present the data.

Healthy Eating Away From Home: This lesson highlights awareness of consuming nutrients and calories away from home, and where to find the calorie and nutrition information for foods available in fast food restaurants. It also highlights how to determine individual calorie needs, as well as the number of calories in a typical fast food meal, and it focuses on dietary goals for saturated fat and sodium.

Hen House Engineering: Students will use the Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning model to evaluate styles of housing used for laying hens in the production of eggs. Using critical thinking skills, students will compare housing styles, determine which system meets their animal welfare standards, and engineer their own hen house model to meet the needs of laying hens.

High-Tech Farming: Students will discover technologies that are used on farms to increase efficiency and yields and decrease costs and environmental impact.

Hungry Pests: This lesson teaches about invasive species: what they are, the threats they pose, and damages they can cause. Students will identify individual pests and invasive species and discover what they threaten, where they live, and the pathways hungry pests use to enter new locations. Finally, students move into action and explore what they can do to prevent the spread of invasive species.

Increasing Food Production with Precision Agriculture: This hands-on lesson teaches students how precision agriculture uses geographic information systems (GIS) to help farmers and manufacturers make smart, efficient, and responsible decisions about how and when they plant, grow, irrigate, harvest, and transport crops.

Journey 2050 Lesson 1: Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture: Students will explore the core question, “How will we sustainably feed nearly 10 billion people by the year 2050?” as they discover what sustainable agriculture is and how it is critical to securing a stable food supply and future for a growing population.

Journey 2050 Lesson 2: Soil Nutrients: Students will identify nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus as primary soil nutrients necessary in the production of abundant and healthy foods, describe various methods of replenishing soil nutrients that have been depleted by plant growth, discover how overall plant health impacts a plant’s ability to resist disease and pests, and describe what best management practices are in agriculture to improve overall sustainability.

Journey 2050 Lesson 3: Water: Students will discuss the limited amount of fresh water on earth, identify how best management practices can reduce water consumption, discuss the need for water conservation and protection related to population growth and agriculture, and compare and contrast methods of irrigation for water conservation.

Journey 2050 Lesson 4: Economies: Students will explain why economics are important to sustainability, describe the relationship between a sustainable economy and the environment, develop a model demonstrating how agricultural production creates a ripple effect that impacts local and global economies and social stability, and discuss how investments build an economy.

Journey 2050 Lesson 5: Land Use: Students will recognize that arable land (ideal land for growing crops) is a limited resource, identify best management practices that can be applied to every stakeholder’s land-use decisions, and analyze and discuss the impacts of food waste on our environment.

Journey 2050 Lesson 6: Careers: Students will explore careers related to agriculture, identify personal interests within agriculture or a related field, and discuss how agricultural professionals can impact world food.

Journey 2050 Lesson 7: Technology and Innovations: Students will explore new technologies that will impact the future of farming, understand the role of developing countries in food security, and explain how consumers influence the production of food.

Let’s Vote On It: Students will hold a mock election to learn the importance of becoming well-informed on the pros and cons of voting measures that affect our local economies, our environment and our quality of life.

Mind Your Own Beeswax: Through project-based learning, students will solve the problem of excess beeswax—a byproduct of honey bees—by developing a useful beeswax product and marketing their product to be sold in a local boutique or farmers market.

Mix It Up! Food Scientist: Students will model the responsibilities of a food scientist by working in product development teams to create a new food product. Tasks will involve market analysis, economics, food chemistry and safety, graphic design, and communication.

My Agricultural Connections: Explore how we are each connected to agriculture through our food, clothing, shelter, fuel, and more. Students will be introduced to agriculture and begin to recognize the depth and complexities of agricultural systems locally and globally.

Mystery Juice: Using an inquiry approach, students will develop an investigation to determine the difference between two juices. Food safety will be discussed in relation to the results of the investigations. Students will have the opportunity to discover how pasteurization reduces the number of microorganisms in a food such as juice.

Nutrients to Get Less of: This lesson introduces sodium and sugar as dietary nutrients we should consume less of. Students will identify the foods and beverages they should limit and recognize how to use the Nutrition Facts label to measure sodium and sugar intake.

Nutrients to Get More Of: Students will plan a healthy meal—breakfast—using the Percent Daily Value (%DV), and will use the Nutrition Facts label to evaluate and compare foods as they plan their meals.

Outbreak Alert—Shigella: Students will analyze a real-life foodborne illness outbreak. They will assume the role of FBI (FoodBorne Illness) investigators to plot out the steps and identify the questions to ask in order to get to the source of the outbreak. Students will discuss and compare their investigative approaches to the actual public health investigation.

Overfishing and Aquaculture: Students will discover the sources of various fish and seafood, compare wild-caught and farm-raised aquaculture systems, and use a simulation to learn how overfishing can damage the ocean ecosystem.

Photoperiod Phenomena: Students will understand how photoperiodism impacts plants and animals in the environment and learn how egg farms use this science to manage the production of eggs by their hens.

Plant Nutrient Deficiencies: Students discuss the definition of “fertilizer” and relate it to plant nutrition and the need to restore nutrient balance in agricultural soils. They discuss how people and crops can suffer from nutrient deficiencies. Students assume the roles of plant doctors and diagnose nutrient deficiencies in corn plants.

Plant Parts and Functions: Students will learn about plant parts and how they function in plant growth and reproduction.

Plant-Soil Interactions: Students will recognize that plants remove nutrients from the soil, explain the roles of diffusion and active transport in moving nutrients from the soil to the plant, and relate the root and vascular systems of the plant to the human circulatory system.

Properties of Soils: Students examine the components of different soils and recognize how sand, silt, and clay particles affect air space and water absorption.

Robots in High-Tech Farming: Students will discover the four main components of robots, explore how robots are used in agriculture, and program and operate a robot to address a farming challenge.

Robots Wanted!: Through project-based learning, students examine fruit and vegetable farms to discover the amount of manual labor required to plant, grow, and harvest some of our food. They research the business economics of farm management, the plant life cycle, and the requirements and challenges faced in reducing manual labor through mechanization or robotics. Students present their findings to an agricultural engineer to begin developing a solution to farm labor shortages.

Soil and Sustainability: Students are introduced to the Dust Bowl and determine how to avoid another event like it in the future as they study soil texture, particle sizes, soil nutrients, and pH.

Spice-up Space Food: Through project-based learning, students work in groups to create a flavorful and nutritious meal for astronauts to eat in space. They experience careers in food and nutrition, food science, and marketing, research different ways to preserve foods, and discover how food is taken to and eaten in space.

Supermarket Smarts: Students will develop an awareness of the importance of food safety in retail food establishments. They will be challenged to design and manage their own food-safe supermarket department using the 4 Cs of Food Safety. At the end of this activity, each team will present its findings in an innovative presentation.

Taming the Wild Aurochs: Students will read about and research the domestication of animals to better understand why and how they are raised on a farm. They will create a timeline of animal domestication.

The Environmental Cost of Food: Students examine the environmental footprint of food by discovering factors along the farm-to-fork process that contribute to a food's environmental footprint and discuss possible solutions to create a sustainable future through the foods we eat.

The Geography of Thanksgiving Dinner: Students will identify common Thanksgiving foods and their farm source, determine if those foods can be produced locally, and locate the common origins of their Thanksgiving day dinner.

The Great Debate: The Reintroduction of Gray Wolves: Students discover multiple perspectives concerning the reintroduction of gray wolves into the wild by researching pros and cons and participating in a debate.

The Remarkable Ruminant: Students will follow the farm-to-fork process of producing beef, learn how cattle and other ruminants convert grass into nutrient-rich foods such as milk and meat, discover ways cattle recycle food waste, and identify careers in the beef cattle industry.

The Right Diet for Your Plants: Students will learn how to read a fertilizer label, understand the components of fertilizers, and explore factors for choosing the appropriate fertilizer for a given situation. Students will use their knowledge and conduct research on one type of soil supplement to design a persuasive product advertisement.

The Right Solution: Students will understand concepts about solutes, solvents, and parts per million as they learn how fertilizer solution is properly calculated and applied.

Think in Pictures: Like Dr. Grandin: Students will explore cattle flight zones and work as agricultural engineers to design a corral system that uses the research of Dr. Temple Grandin.

Ultra High Pressure Treatment: Students will explore various ways that have been used to preserve food over the ages. They will also learn about techniques used to process food today and hypothesize about other methods scientists might use to process food safely in the future. Finally, students will conduct a simulation of high pressure treatment and discover how it destroys bacteria without crushing the food.

Understanding Bacteria: This lesson introduces students to food safety, the 4 Cs of Food Safety, the Farm-to-Table Continuum, who’s responsible for keeping our food safe, and the link between food safety and other content areas. Students will also be challenged to hypothesize about where most bacteria are found and develop awareness that bacteria are everywhere and that various surfaces might have different levels of organisms.

Use of Biotechnology in Selecting the Right Plants: Students will simulate how a type of biotechnology called Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) is used to identify crop plants that have desirable traits, such as sweet tasting fruit or natural resistance to a pest or disease.

Walnuts: Naturally Nutritious: Students will interpret and compare nutrition labels to make healthy food choices and learn about the nutritional value of walnuts. Students will also have a walnut taste test and use walnuts in a recipe.

Water Ops for Growing: Through project-based learning, students design and create a smart watering system for a small herb garden.  

Water Quality: Students investigate the effects of added soil nutrients on water quality, perform chemical and physical tests on water samples, collect and identify macro invertebrates from a freshwater system and compare physical, chemical and biological factors of an aquatic ecosystem to determine water health.

Watersheds, Soil Profiles, and Erosion: Students develop an understanding of what factors impact water quality within watersheds, what soil types/profiles are most susceptible to erosion, and what factors impact water quality within watersheds and how to mitigate erosion on susceptible soils.

What's the Difference? A Look at Organic and Conventional Foods: Using the claim, evidence and reasoning model, students will compare and contrast organic vs conventionally produced foods to discover the differences and similarities of each farm production style.

What? No Soil?: After learning the five basic requirements of plant growth, students discuss terms related to hydroponics. Students then build and maintain hydroponic units from soda bottles.


SL2:
Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively and orally.

A Recipe for Genetics: Selective Breeding and Transgenics: Students will identify technologies that have changed the way humans affect the inheritance of desired traits in organisms; compare and contrast selective breeding methods to genetic engineering techniques; and analyze data to determine the best solution for cultivating selected desired traits in organisms.

Aeroponic Engineering and Vertical Farming: Students will use the Engineering Design Process to develop and construct an aeroponic garden to grow a food crop. Students will develop and apply an understanding of plant anatomy and physiology related to plant growth and ultimately discuss the possibilities and limitations of using vertical farming to produce our food.

At Home on the Range: Students will learn about rangelands by participating in a hands-on activity to grow their own grass to represent a beef or sheep ranch.

Bring Home the Blue, Not the Flu!: Using the context of a county fair livestock show, students investigate how diseases are spread. With a focus on zoonotic disease, students will complete simulations demonstrating the spread of illness and implementation of biosecurity measures as well as complete an online module to deepen understanding of specific diseases and their prevention.

Can We Have Too Much of a Good Thing?: Students will understand that plants require nutrients in the proper concentrations. Students will discover that plants can be damaged or killed by either too many or too few nutrients.

Career Trek: Students will explore careers in the fields of agriculture and natural resources through online research. They will check their understanding by playing Career Trek—a board game that requires students to identify careers in agriculture and natural resources.

Cheesemaking: A Science, an Art, and a Craft: Students make fresh mozzarella cheese and explore a career as an artisan cheesemaker as they discover the science, art, and craft involved in the development of specialty cheeses.

Cotton's American Journey: Students will investigate the impact of cotton on the history and culture of the United States. Students will discover the growth and processing requirements for cotton, recognize how the invention of the cotton gin affected slavery, explain how the plantation system was organized, and ultimately understand the role of cotton in the Civil War.

Crossed Up!: Students will discover that some items in their own kitchens may be contaminated by bacteria. They will be challenged to hypothesize about where bacteria might be found in kitchens and which items might have the most and the least bacteria. Students will develop awareness that bacteria can spread from surfaces to hands, and even to food, and will hypothesize how to control the spread of bacteria.

Digging into Nutrients: Students will gain background knowledge of the nutrient requirements of plants, how those nutrients are obtained by the plant, what farmers must do if the nutrients are not available in soils, and current issues related to agricultural production.

Drones in High-Tech Farming: Students will discover the science behind how a drone works, explore how drones are used in agriculture, and program and operate a drone for the purpose of monitoring grazing sheep.

Grow It Now, Drive It Later?: Students will discover potential careers in agriculture with a focus on the growing field of biofuel development.

Growing Pulses: This lesson introduces agriculture as a managed system that has environmental impacts and how farmers employ practices such as growing pulses to minimize these impacts.

Hands Off, Bacteria!: This lab challenges students to identify the variables involved in hand-washing. They will design labs to discover the best method for washing their hands to reduce the spread of bacteria. Students will also analyze and present the data.

Hen House Engineering: Students will use the Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning model to evaluate styles of housing used for laying hens in the production of eggs. Using critical thinking skills, students will compare housing styles, determine which system meets their animal welfare standards, and engineer their own hen house model to meet the needs of laying hens.

High-Tech Farming: Students will discover technologies that are used on farms to increase efficiency and yields and decrease costs and environmental impact.

Hunger and Malnutrition: Students will learn about the importance of eating a variety of foods in order to get all the nutrients needed to be healthy, explore diets around the world using Peter Menzel's Hungry Planet Family Food Portraits, and discuss the scope of the problems of hunger and malnutrition using the World Food Programme Hunger Map.

Hungry Pests: This lesson teaches about invasive species: what they are, the threats they pose, and damages they can cause. Students will identify individual pests and invasive species and discover what they threaten, where they live, and the pathways hungry pests use to enter new locations. Finally, students move into action and explore what they can do to prevent the spread of invasive species.

Introducing the Nutrition Facts Label: Explore the features of the Nutrition Facts label with a focus on protein, analyze serving size, and make a Nutrition Facts label for a smoothie.

Land and Soil in the Ecosystem: Students use an apple to represent the Earth and discover how our land resources are used. Through critical thinking, students discover why topsoil is a nonrenewable resource, the importance of soil to our food supply, and factors that impact topsoil distribution in different regions.

Learn, Protect and Promote Water!: Students learn about water sources, water pollution and water protection. Students participate in an activity where they demonstrate the water cycle and see the potential for our water supply to become contaminated.

Mastering Mindful Eating: Students will explore hunger, satiety and mindful eating to discover how our eating habits are impacted by our awareness to physiological signals of hunger or fullness. Students will also practice mindful eating practices and explore portion sizes as they sort foods, create meals using portion-size food models and track their food using mindful eating practices.

My Agricultural Connections: Explore how we are each connected to agriculture through our food, clothing, shelter, fuel, and more. Students will be introduced to agriculture and begin to recognize the depth and complexities of agricultural systems locally and globally.

Nutrients to Get Less of: This lesson introduces sodium and sugar as dietary nutrients we should consume less of. Students will identify the foods and beverages they should limit and recognize how to use the Nutrition Facts label to measure sodium and sugar intake.

Overfishing and Aquaculture: Students will discover the sources of various fish and seafood, compare wild-caught and farm-raised aquaculture systems, and use a simulation to learn how overfishing can damage the ocean ecosystem.

Photoperiod Phenomena: Students will understand how photoperiodism impacts plants and animals in the environment and learn how egg farms use this science to manage the production of eggs by their hens.

Plant Nutrient Deficiencies: Students discuss the definition of “fertilizer” and relate it to plant nutrition and the need to restore nutrient balance in agricultural soils. They discuss how people and crops can suffer from nutrient deficiencies. Students assume the roles of plant doctors and diagnose nutrient deficiencies in corn plants.

Plant Propagation: Students will learn about two types of plant propagation—seed planting (sexual) and stem cuttings (asexual) and recognize the genetic differences in these processes, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Robots in High-Tech Farming: Students will discover the four main components of robots, explore how robots are used in agriculture, and program and operate a robot to address a farming challenge.

Supermarket Smarts: Students will develop an awareness of the importance of food safety in retail food establishments. They will be challenged to design and manage their own food-safe supermarket department using the 4 Cs of Food Safety. At the end of this activity, each team will present its findings in an innovative presentation.

The Environmental Cost of Food: Students examine the environmental footprint of food by discovering factors along the farm-to-fork process that contribute to a food's environmental footprint and discuss possible solutions to create a sustainable future through the foods we eat.

The Great Debate: The Reintroduction of Gray Wolves: Students discover multiple perspectives concerning the reintroduction of gray wolves into the wild by researching pros and cons and participating in a debate.

The QUEST for the Whole Enchilada: This lesson utilizes a process learning model to recognize how the Columbian Exchange and early Spanish explorers impacted the culture and cuisine of the Southwest United States. Students will participate in a food lab to make enchiladas and learn about the production of each ingredient.

The Right Diet for Your Plants: Students will learn how to read a fertilizer label, understand the components of fertilizers, and explore factors for choosing the appropriate fertilizer for a given situation. Students will use their knowledge and conduct research on one type of soil supplement to design a persuasive product advertisement.

Use of Biotechnology in Selecting the Right Plants: Students will simulate how a type of biotechnology called Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) is used to identify crop plants that have desirable traits, such as sweet tasting fruit or natural resistance to a pest or disease.

Walnuts: Naturally Nutritious: Students will interpret and compare nutrition labels to make healthy food choices and learn about the nutritional value of walnuts. Students will also have a walnut taste test and use walnuts in a recipe.

What’s on MyPlate?: Students will explore what it means to eat a healthy diet by comparing the foods they typically eat in a day with the recommendations of MyPlate.

What? No Soil?: After learning the five basic requirements of plant growth, students discuss terms related to hydroponics. Students then build and maintain hydroponic units from soda bottles.


SL3:
Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

A Recipe for Genetics: Selective Breeding and Transgenics: Students will identify technologies that have changed the way humans affect the inheritance of desired traits in organisms; compare and contrast selective breeding methods to genetic engineering techniques; and analyze data to determine the best solution for cultivating selected desired traits in organisms.

Climate Change Phenomena: Bananas in Our Breadbasket?: Students will explore the carbon cycle and evaluate associated phenomena of climate as they discover the impact climate change could have on the farms that produce our food.

Cooking Right: The Science of Cooking a Hamburger: The teacher will demonstrate cooking hamburgers to different temperatures. Students will analyze Petri dishes inoculated with hamburger and observe the amount of bacteria at each temperature. They will also learn that cooking hamburgers to the recommended temperature of 160° F (71° C) will kill pathogenic bacteria. Hamburger is used for this cooking lab because it’s a food that students are familiar with and may be cooking at home.

From Cow to Carton: Milk's Journey to the Consumer: Students will explore milk production in the United States and explain the benefits of homogenization, pasteurization, and fortification of milk.

Let’s Vote On It: Students will hold a mock election to learn the importance of becoming well-informed on the pros and cons of voting measures that affect our local economies, our environment and our quality of life.

The Great Debate: The Reintroduction of Gray Wolves: Students discover multiple perspectives concerning the reintroduction of gray wolves into the wild by researching pros and cons and participating in a debate.


SL4:
Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.

Agritourism: Extreme Farm Makeover: Through project-based learning, students will work in groups to design an agritourism experience that will increase profits for a family-owned farm and provide agricultural literacy opportunities for community members.

Growing Our State History: Students will discover the connections between agriculture, natural resources and the history of their state.

Properties of Soils: Students examine the components of different soils and recognize how sand, silt, and clay particles affect air space and water absorption.

Sheep See, Sheep Do: Students will explore the difference between inherited and acquired traits and understand why knowledge of inherited and acquired traits is important to agriculture. Activities in this lesson include trait sorting, two short movies, a PTC taste test, and student presentations.

The Columbian Exchange of Old and New World Foods: Students will explore New World and Old World food origins to understand how the Columbian Exchange altered people’s lives worldwide.

The Great Debate: The Reintroduction of Gray Wolves: Students discover multiple perspectives concerning the reintroduction of gray wolves into the wild by researching pros and cons and participating in a debate.

Think in Pictures: Like Dr. Grandin: Students will explore cattle flight zones and work as agricultural engineers to design a corral system that uses the research of Dr. Temple Grandin.


SL5:
Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

Healthy Eating Away From Home: This lesson highlights awareness of consuming nutrients and calories away from home, and where to find the calorie and nutrition information for foods available in fast food restaurants. It also highlights how to determine individual calorie needs, as well as the number of calories in a typical fast food meal, and it focuses on dietary goals for saturated fat and sodium.

In Search of Essential Nutrients: Students will learn the definition of an essential element, compare and contrast the essential nutrient requirements of plants and humans, explain why plants cannot use elemental nitrogen found in the atmosphere, and identify the sources for each essential nutrient needed by plants.

Journey 2050 Lesson 1: Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture: Students will explore the core question, “How will we sustainably feed nearly 10 billion people by the year 2050?” as they discover what sustainable agriculture is and how it is critical to securing a stable food supply and future for a growing population.

Journey 2050 Lesson 2: Soil Nutrients: Students will identify nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus as primary soil nutrients necessary in the production of abundant and healthy foods, describe various methods of replenishing soil nutrients that have been depleted by plant growth, discover how overall plant health impacts a plant’s ability to resist disease and pests, and describe what best management practices are in agriculture to improve overall sustainability.

Journey 2050 Lesson 3: Water: Students will discuss the limited amount of fresh water on earth, identify how best management practices can reduce water consumption, discuss the need for water conservation and protection related to population growth and agriculture, and compare and contrast methods of irrigation for water conservation.

Journey 2050 Lesson 4: Economies: Students will explain why economics are important to sustainability, describe the relationship between a sustainable economy and the environment, develop a model demonstrating how agricultural production creates a ripple effect that impacts local and global economies and social stability, and discuss how investments build an economy.

Journey 2050 Lesson 5: Land Use: Students will recognize that arable land (ideal land for growing crops) is a limited resource, identify best management practices that can be applied to every stakeholder’s land-use decisions, and analyze and discuss the impacts of food waste on our environment.

Journey 2050 Lesson 6: Careers: Students will explore careers related to agriculture, identify personal interests within agriculture or a related field, and discuss how agricultural professionals can impact world food.

Photosynthesis: Energy’s Journey From Farm to You: Explore photosynthesis to discover how plants obtain energy from the sun and then continue following energy’s path to see how energy can flow through ecosystems to ultimately provide food for humans.

Taming the Wild Aurochs: Students will read about and research the domestication of animals to better understand why and how they are raised on a farm. They will create a timeline of animal domestication.

The QUEST for the Whole Enchilada: This lesson utilizes a process learning model to recognize how the Columbian Exchange and early Spanish explorers impacted the culture and cuisine of the Southwest United States. Students will participate in a food lab to make enchiladas and learn about the production of each ingredient.

Understanding Bacteria: This lesson introduces students to food safety, the 4 Cs of Food Safety, the Farm-to-Table Continuum, who’s responsible for keeping our food safe, and the link between food safety and other content areas. Students will also be challenged to hypothesize about where most bacteria are found and develop awareness that bacteria are everywhere and that various surfaces might have different levels of organisms.


SL6:
Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

In Search of Essential Nutrients: Students will learn the definition of an essential element, compare and contrast the essential nutrient requirements of plants and humans, explain why plants cannot use elemental nitrogen found in the atmosphere, and identify the sources for each essential nutrient needed by plants.

A Search for the Source: In this lesson students will learn that agriculture provides nearly all of the products we rely on in any given day by participating in a relay where they match an everyday item with its “source.”