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Society-Ready Graduates
Agricultural Literacy Programs for K-12 Teachers
Issue
The earth's human population topped six billion in the year 2000. All
those people depend on agriculture to provide them with food, clothing,
and a variety of other products to enhance their lives. As more homes
are built on prime farmland across the U.S., a smaller number of farms
are providing for the basic needs of many more people. Less than two
percent of the U.S. population is engaged in production agriculture.
There aren't enough sons and daughters of current farm families available
to carry on this essential industry. To interest K-12 students in finding
out more about where their food comes from, and how they can pursue
various careers in agriculture, agricultural literacy programs have
been launched nationwide. Teachers need to understand agriculture themselves
before they can integrate concepts about agriculture into their lesson
plans.
What has been done?
The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, with funding from the
Arizona Foundation for Agricultural Literacy, has conducted a five-day
Summer Agricultural Institute for Teachers every summer for 12 years.
The Institute educates participants about the Arizona agricultural industry
and encourages them to incorporate this knowledge into their classroom
activities. The Institute combines hands-on learning about agriculture
with practical curriculum development. Participants receive lesson plans,
videos, and other take-home materials. Sixty-nine volunteers contributed
549 hours of service in 2002 to ensure the success of the Institute.
Many of the teachers have little or no knowledge of the agricultural
industry. They visit agricultural operations, stay with farm families
and interact with the owners and managers of these businesses, to better
understand the technical aspects of agriculture in Arizona, and the
wide range of agricultural operations and career opportunities.
"Project Food, Land & People Resources for Learning"
is another opportunity to extend the agricultural literacy message into
schools. Teachers participate in six-hour workshops and receive 55 lessons
that incorporate agriculture into any subject they teach. These nationally
designed lessons have been aligned with Arizona's Academic Standards,
and have been recognized as outstanding by the Arizona Department of
Commerce.
Joint workshops with other educational providers is the third opportunity
for teachers to learn how to incorporate agriculture into their classroom
curriculum. Teacher participants in these workshops receive an intensive
two-day training, where they are given the curricula of Project food,
Land & People, Project Learning Tree and Project WET (Water Education
for Teachers). All three of these curricula are delivered by employees
of the University of Arizona.
Impact
From 1990-2002 a total of 263 educators have attended the Summer Agricultural
Institute. From 1990-2002 a total of 263 educators have attended the
Summer Agricultural Institute. Seventeen percent have earned graduate
level credit through the UA for completing the Institute program. Participants
in the 2002 Institute stated that they would teach an average of 13
more years. The potential impact from these 28 teachers would be their
contact with almost 20,000 students for agricultural literacy lessons.
As for Project Food, Land and People, 585 teachers have participated
in this program. Assuming an average of 30 students per class for these
teachers, 17,550 students are learning about agriculture during the
2002-2003 school year.
Funding
Arizona Foundation for Agricultural Literacy
Contact
Monica Pastor, program coordinator, agricultural literacy
Maricopa County Cooperative Extension
The University of Arizona, 4341 E. Broadway, Phoenix, AZ 85040
Tel: (602) 470-8086 ext. 317, FAX: (602) 470-8092
Email: mpastor@ag.arizona.edu
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