Students learn about agriculture
By Janet Kubat Willette
jkubat@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 06/10/2010 2:42 PM
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APPLE VALLEY, Minn. — Most of the students in the 72 House at Falcon Ridge Middle School had little idea what a farm was before "Down on the Farm 2010."
Now, all of the roughly 185 seventh graders have visited at least one farm, met a farmer and been immersed in agriculture for a week. All the teachers in the 72 House work together for farm week, teaching a interdisciplinary curriculum that revolves around agriculture.
The students are grouped into teams and given a job. There are herdsmen, tech writers, head farmers, historians, money managers and craftsmen. Students are also assigned a subject area to learn more about. The subject areas are soybeans, beef cattle, hogs, corn, dairy cattle and alfalfa.
Students work together on their teams to design their own farm. They decide how many acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa to plant and how many hogs, beef cattle and dairy cattle to raise. They track their costs and figure out an estimated and actual profit from their different enterprises. They come up with a farm name and write a farm history. They create a storyboard to give a visual impression of their farm.
Farm week got its start back in 1994 when Apple Valley-Rosemount-Eagan teacher Scott Fiegel received a grant from Minnesota Ag in the Classroom to start the interdisciplinary program. Math, science, history, English, communications and industrial technology teachers cooperate on farm week.
"I had never got a grant before in my life," Fiegel said.
Farm week has grown since, with commodity and agricultural groups and agribusinesses donating items. Farmers come in to talk to students and the students visit farms and agribusinesses.
"Everybody kind of enjoys it," Fiegel said.
Agriculture is the context for learning all the subjects, said Minnesota Ag in the Classroom program director Al Withers. Students learn to work together, they use multiple subject areas to complete the project and they have a positive agricultural experience.
"They're doing exactly what our program is designed to do," Withers said.
"Agriculture is the perfect theme for us," Fiegel said.