MP1:
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

MP2:
Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

Apple Genetics: A Tasty Phenomena: Using the context of apples, students will apply their knowledge of heredity and genetics to explain how new varieties are developed and propagated to meet the demand for a tasty, uniform, consistent product.

Blue's the Clue: Scouring Milk for Science: This lab introduces students to the effect temperature has on reducing and controlling the growth of bacteria. Students will use conventionally pasteurized and ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk to observe how different temperatures (hot, room temperature, cool and freezing) affect the growth of spoilage bacteria. They will also learn about the importance of pasteurization in keeping food safe.

Charting Agricultural Careers: Students will explore the current and future needs required to produce food, clothing, shelter and fuel; and the variety of agricultural STEM careers requiring critical thinkers and problem solvers to meet our needs.

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.

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

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.

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.

More Than One Grain of Rice: Students will learn about the cultivation and parts of rice while also covering subjects including mathematics, economics and geography. Activities include reading “One Grain of Rice” by Demi and removing the hull, bran and germ from grains of rice.

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.

MP4:
Model with mathematics.

Apple Genetics: A Tasty Phenomena: Using the context of apples, students will apply their knowledge of heredity and genetics to explain how new varieties are developed and propagated to meet the demand for a tasty, uniform, consistent product.

Blue's the Clue: Scouring Milk for Science: This lab introduces students to the effect temperature has on reducing and controlling the growth of bacteria. Students will use conventionally pasteurized and ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk to observe how different temperatures (hot, room temperature, cool and freezing) affect the growth of spoilage bacteria. They will also learn about the importance of pasteurization in keeping food safe.

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.

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.

Grocery Store Problem Solving: Students will use basic mathematical skills to solve problems related to the cost of food while integrating geography and nutrition to enhance learning. Activities include analyzing grocery ads, assessing the nutrition and cost of meals, and exploring diets around the world.

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.

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.

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.

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

MP6:
Attend to precision.

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.

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.

MP7:
Look for and make use of structure.

Supply and Demand: What If?: Students will demonstrate understanding of the importance of the relationship between producers and consumers by explaining how agricultural supply and demand affects commodity prices.

MP8:
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

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