Curriculum Connections

I think my topic can be used in quite a few different ways within a classroom. Clearly, Science is the most likely to find a way to make it fit, but there are many more disciplines that could use organic farming as a topic for discussion. Following are my two ideas for using my Organic Eating research as a classroom experience for students:

3rd Grade - Students could use the information on organic farming and eating to grow their own school garden. They would be studying how plants grow, the affects of weather, photosynthesis, the environment, healthy eating, etc... As well as learning to work in groups and how to follow a process with an obvious outcome (vegetables!). Two standards this addresses are:

AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner - Indicator 1.1.1 - Follow an inquiry-based process in seeking knowledge in curricular subjects, and make the real-world connection for using this process in own life

Indiana Academic Standards - Science - 3.1.2 - Participate in different types of guided scientific investigations such as observing objects and events and collecting specimens for analysis

12th Grade - Students could be put into groups responsible for debating organic farming vs. commercial farming. Each group could debate another with the opposite view point to research. Along with researching their topic, groups would have to come up with possible solutions to a few of the disadvantages of their type of farming. They would need to understand their position well enough that they not only provide a presentation to the class of their findings but can debate their points against another group using the information they've learned.

AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner - Indicator 1.1.7 - Make sense of information gathered from diverse sources by identifying misconceptions, main and supporting ideas, conflicting information, and point of view or bias.

Indiana Academic Standards - Environmental Science - 1.30 - Describe how agricultural technology requires trade-offs between increased production and environmental harm and between efficient production and social values.

I believe both groups of students would benefit significantly from these types of activities.