Having quality resources available to teachers is one mechanism to encourage STEM-teaching with the use of agricultural examples. The goal of this post is to compile a useful list of resources that exist to help teachers find relevant modules (outside of those that can be found within older posts in this site). This is by no means a complete list containing all of the content that exists, but hopefully some of the populated resources will be useful to teachers looking for something new. The bullet list below will contain a brief summary of the material you may find on the site, and the direct link to access the resource. Resources below are arranged alphabetically for ease of navigation within this post.
- Ag in the Classroom – Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix: The National Agriculture in the Classroom host a curriculum matrix where teachers can search for lessons based on grade level, subject matter, or topic. Site URL: https://agclassroom.org/matrix/
- Agronomy 4 Me: Lessons compiled by the American Society of Agronomy to assist teachers with using agriculture in the classroom. Additional resource links to additional curriculum-hosting sites are provided as well. Site URL: https://www.agronomy4me.org/for-teachers
- Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology (CeMAST): The CeMAST Group at Illinois State, while focusing on mainly math education modules, had some involvement with plant-related science curriculum generation. The main product developed was a class game called “Plants v. Profits” and it uses plant systems for rotation planning and examining economics. Site URL: https://pvp.cemastprojects.org/
- GrowNextGen: Units, lessons, and laboratory activities have been designed to study agriculture with an emphasis on connections to soy and soybean production. Lesson topics range from soils, digital agriculture and engineering, through plant production all the way to soybean end use in the bioindustry and study of bioeconomies. Teachers can use this site to search for specific curriculum types, subject matter, or grade level. Site URL: https://grownextgen.org/curriculum
- Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom: The KFAC group hosts a site that contains multiple agriculturally-relevant lesson plants that align with the Next Generation Science Standards. Lesson plans, virtual tours, educator guides are all included within their site and can be searched for by subject matter, grade level, and agricultural topic. Site URL: https://www.ksagclassroom.org/resource/
- Institute for Native-serving Educators (Northern Arizona University): Culturally-responsive curricular modules have been developed by participants withing Northern Arizona University’s Institute for Native-serving Educators, with modules that support Math and Science education as well as other topic areas such as Health. Site URL: https://in.nau.edu/ine/curricula-resources/
- W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (Michigan State University): A host of lessons have been developed related to agriculture, evolution and ecology for K-12 education. Many of these relate to invasive species, ecological interactions, and agriculture. Site URL: https://www.kbs.msu.edu/education/k-12/classroom-resources/
- Nourish the Future: Phenomena, units, and lessons related to six main topic areas of biotechnology, energy and biofuels, crop production, human populations, soils, and water quality. Content developed focuses mostly on middle and high school curriculum, and focuses mainly on corn and soybean-related content. Lessons are geared to align with Next Generation Science Standards. Site URL: https://nourishthefuture.org/curriculum
- Ohio Corn Education: Developed lessons that can be used to teach about soils, water quality, agricultural production, and biotechnology and bioenergy (ethanol). Emphasis is placed on corn production systems. Site URL: https://ohiocorneducation.org/curriculum
- Phenomena in Agriculture: Teaching through the use of Phenomenon-Based Learning lends itself well to agricultural examples. Here is a site where they have identified multiple agriculturally-related phenomenon, and provided base lesson plans on ways to utilize the identified phenomenon. Examples range from natural resources/the environment through plant and animal-based agricultural systems. Site URL: https://www.steaminagriculture.org/ngssphenonmenabank
- Pollinators: The Center for Pollinator Research at Penn State University has developed a searchable site of classroom materials to help teach about agriculture, pollinators, and fruit/vegetable production. Most materials are developed for elementary education. Site URL: https://pollinators.psu.edu/resource-library/classroom-materials
- Soils 4 Teachers: The Soil Science Society of America has worked to compile a searchable database containing various lessons, units, videos, and activities related to soil-centric topics such as formation, biology, chemistry, forensics/archaeology, climate, and art/culture. Database is searchable by content, resource type and grade level. Site URL: https://www.soils4teachers.org/lessons-and-activities/search/
- Seed Your Future: Provides resources such as webinars, horticulture career information, blog posts, contests for students working with plants, and a collection of plant time-lapse videos. Site URL: https://www.seedyourfuture.org
- The Land Institute: Lessons for high school educators have been developed that connect classroom content expectations to the example of the perennial grain crop called Kernza. Lessons include economics/supply chains, breeding, climate, and human interactions. Site URL: https://kernza.org/kernza-curriculum/
This post and activity was made possible in part thanks to funding from USDA-NIFA Education Workforce and Development program, Award 2021-67037-34217.
