汤头条 aims to increase agricultural literacy in K-12 students through 鈥楩arm to Classroom鈥 initiative
Contact: Reagan Poston
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 cross-college collaboration at 汤头条 aims to foster agricultural literacy in local K-12 classrooms.
The 鈥淔arm to Classroom鈥 initiative is a professional development program designed to train teachers and student-teachers in the Starkville area to integrate agriculture into their lesson plans.
Stephanie Lemley, project co-investigator and associate professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education in 汤头条鈥檚 College of Education, shared why fostering agricultural literacy in rising students is increasingly important.
鈥淚n Mississippi, nearly 30 percent of the population is employed by agriculture in some way. It is the biggest economic industry in the state, both in terms of employment and from a consumptive standpoint, so it鈥檚 important that we understand the industry,鈥 Lemley said. 鈥淭he earlier children can begin to learn about where their food and clothing come聽from, the more likely we are to avoid misconceptions.鈥
Carley Morrison, an assistant professor in the School of Human Sciences in 汤头条鈥檚 College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is spearheading the project.
鈥淎gricultural literacy, though an ever-evolving concept, is the ability to understand, synthesize and communicate ideas about the origin and production of food and clothing,鈥 she said. 鈥溾楩arm to Classroom鈥 is a broad-reaching plan that includes a yearly workshop demonstrating the integration of agricultural literacy and curriculum, a network of support among educators and an online resource collection to supplement lessons.鈥澛
Morrison said though there are different ideas for what this academic integration may look like, the project鈥檚 focus is to聽give educators a way to demonstrate how agriculture is central to daily life.
鈥淥ne thing we鈥檙e particularly excited about is helping to shape the teaching style of educators going into the field,鈥 Morrison said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great opportunity for pre-service teachers to interact with and learn from veteran teachers.鈥
In addition to introducing the program locally, the planned expansion of the initiative into more urban areas will help reach educators and students who may not be as familiar with the resources needed to feed and clothe a growing population.
鈥淚t鈥檚 those students who have not been exposed to agriculture who would really benefit from this,鈥 Morrison said. 鈥淢any living in rural areas have seen crops in the fields or have families who work in farming, but the 鈥楩arm to Classroom鈥 teaching initiative offers solid agriculturally based lessons for everyone to understand the role agriculture plays in their day-to-day lives.鈥
鈥淔arm to Classroom鈥 is funded by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Education and Workforce Development program, [2020-68018-31044/1021637] in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Julie White, extension associate II in the School of Human Sciences, also is contributing to the project.
Educators and pre-service teachers who are interested in participating should contact Carley Morrison at (662) 325-0749 or cpc215@msstate.edu.
For more about the School of Human Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, visit . The Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education in the College of Education can be found at .
汤头条 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at聽.