Author: Anna Ziegler

Fall 2019 Purple Plow Challenge: Growing Green

Fall 2019 Purple Plow Challenge – Growing Green

In this challenge, students will learn about energy in various forms and design as well as build and share a solution that diversifies energy consumption.

Students will research, students will design, test and demonstrate a solution to answer the question: How can we improve or diversify the way agriculture generates or consumes energy?  Get all the resources here: https://www.purpleplow.org/challenges/

Challenge deadline Nov. 22!

Ag SCience Grant Winners

Nine local teachers added agriculture to their classrooms with the help of an Ag Science Grant from the McLean County Farm Bureau Foundation.

Check out the projects below!

Students learned about precision agriculture  and explored emerging technologies like automated tractors and robots. Grant funds were used to purchase a drone and robotics equipment. Students mapped out a field , designed a vehicle and program it to run the area of the field.

Students had the chance to learn about and assemble farm equipment with the help of high school ag students.

 

Biology students learn about they symbiotic relationship of fish and plants in an acquaponics system. Physical science students learned about the chemistry and measured pH levels.

Students had the chance to learn about and assemble farm equipment with the help of high school ag students.

 

Farm equipment and animals for students to learn about crops, livestock and dairy.

Students learned about farm equipment, gears and motors.

Students learned about how machinery is important to agriculture.

Document cameras allowed students to explore and compare monocot and dicot plants.

Family & Consumer Science students took a field trip to Kilgus Farmstead to see dairy from the cow to the cup. Read more about their trip here: Farm to Fridge: NCWHS Students Explore Dairy

Farm to Fridge: NCWHS Students Explore Dairy

At Kilgus Farmstead near Fairbury, sixty Normal West High School students had the chance to experience dairy from farm to fridge.

Kilgus Farmstead operates an on-farm creamery to bottle their own milk, allowing the students to see the entire process from dairy cows to gallons of milk.

“The field trip ties directly into our dairy unit,” says Family and Consumer Science teacher, Traci Verdery. “In class, the students made their own whipped cream, butter and mozzarella cheese.”

The farm tour gives them the chance to see where milk comes from, Verdery says.

The group of ninth through twelfth graders toured the barns, milking parlor and creamery plus enjoyed some ice cream from the on-farm store.

For the majority of the students, the field trip was the first time they visited a farm and had the chance to see dairy cows up close. Students learned about animal care, nutrition and food safety.

Funding for the dairy field trip was provided by an Ag Science Grant from McLean County Farm Bureau Foundation.

teachers: Grow What You Know & Earn PDCHs

Join us June 4-7 for our 2019 Summer AITC Workshop for Teachers!

  • 4 Days of field trips, tours & hands on lesson ideas
  • Geared for pre-K to grade 12 educators
  • Earn 30 PDCHs (professional development clock hours), plus 2 graduate level college credit hours available (additional fee)
  • Learn about FREE resources for STEM lessons aligned with Common Core & Next Generation Science Standards
  • Take home lesson ideas, materials & grant opportunities for use in your classroom next year!

Cost is $95 for the workshop. Tuition for 2 hours of Graduate Credit from St. Francis University is $200.

Click here to register.

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