
Aquaculture Adventures
Students investigate a variety of aquaculture food products, discover how and where they are grown and raised, and explore their nutritional benefits.
The National Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix is a free database of standards-based lesson plans and resources for K-12 educators that use agriculture as a lens for teaching science, social studies, career and technical education, and nutrition.
Students investigate a variety of aquaculture food products, discover how and where they are grown and raised, and explore their nutritional benefits.
Students explore pecan production from farm to fork, simulate the process of grafting, and create a nutritious snack.
Students investigate the cultivation and identify the parts of rice by reading One Grain of Rice by Demi and removing the hull, bran, and germ from grains of rice.
Students investigate a variety of vegetables, discover how and where they are grown, and explore their nutritional benefits.
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.
This three-page informational sheet describes the processes of how aquaculture food products are grown and harvested, how they get from the farm to the store, and nutrition facts. Words and graphics are used to portray this information for catfish, clams, crawfish, oysters, saltwater shrimp, and trout. Print your own or order a set of 30" x 8" printed charts from agclassroomstore.com.
Students investigate embryo development in chicken eggs.
Students identify the characteristics of the four seasons of the year, investigate what causes seasons, and observe the effects changing seasons have on farms.
Students explore the process of making wool into cloth.
Students identify the structure and function of six plant parts and classify fruits and vegetables according to which parts of the plants are edible.
Students investigate six major livestock species, discover that animals need air, space, food, water, and shelter to survive, explore the life cycle of a farm animal, and identify the products each farm animal produces.
Students identify different breeds of chickens, examine physical characteristics, and determine the stages of a chicken's life cycle.
Students investigate how the need for wool impacted the American colonists by examining the Wool Act of 1699, determine the importance of wool in colonial America, and compare and contrast the differences between processing wool then and now. Students spin, weave, and dye wool to explore how wool was processed in Colonial times.
Students identify the parts of a honey bee, the stages of its life cycle, and its role in pollination.
Students explore different cultures around the world, compare worldwide communities with local communities, and explain the interrelationship between the environment and community development.
Students investigate the importance of light to plants by creating a desktop greenhouse investigation and exploring the process of photosynthesis.
Students will participate in a foraging activity, gaining perspective on how scarcity of resources can affect well-being and how agriculture provides the benefit of a steady, reliable food supply. Then they will read about hunter-gatherers and early agriculture and use maps to explore how geography affected the development of early civilizations.
Students identify technologies that have changed the way humans affect the inheritance of desired traits in organisms; compare and contrast selective breeding methods to bioengineering techniques; and analyze data to determine the best solution for cultivating desired traits in organisms.
Students will gain a broad understanding of the types and sources of different fibers, examining their origins and observing their differences. Activities in this lesson include examining clothing and clothing labels and observing how different types of fabrics burn.
Students will demonstrate understanding of the importance of the relationship between producers and consumers by explaining how agricultural supply and demand affects commodity prices.
Students will explore the steps and processes that create a food system and gain an understanding of hunger as it relates to the physical well-being, culture, and geographic location of all people. Students will learn what a food system encompasses, create a "food system chain," and discuss why hunger still exists despite modern advances that have made the US food system highly efficient.
While many view bioengineered crops (GMOs) as a promising innovation, there is controversy about their use. This lesson provides students with a brief overview of the technology, equipping them with the ability to evaluate the social, environmental, and economic arguments for and against bioengineered crops (GMOs). This lesson covers a socioscientific issue and aims to provide students with tools to evaluate science within the context of social and economic points of view.
Students will explore the 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.
Students will discover the five culinary functions of eggs by completing a cooking lab comparing recipes with and without eggs. Students will see how eggs leaven, bind, thicken, coat, and emulsify our foods.
Students will be introduced to the Nutrition Facts label, navigate and decipher the Nutrition Facts label, use food labels to determine nutritive value of foods, and define terminology found on the label such as calories, nutrients, and servings.
Evaluate the agricultural advances of the Green Revolution, discover the contributions of Norman Borlaug, and discuss the impacts of this era from an economic, social, political, and environmental perspective by watching the 2020 PBS film, The Man Who Tried to Feed the World.
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Download a CSV spreadsheet containing the vocabulary words used in the Curriculum Matrix.