1. AGsploration: The Science of Maryland Agriculture is a Lessons Taught by Teen Volunteers in 2011
Amazing Soybean designed to TEEN TRAINING LESSON PLAN TAUGHT
# TIMES # YOUTH
55 teen volunteers have TAUGHT REACHED
Wild and Wooly 38 641
Animal Digestion as it relates to agriculture. The curriculum been trained to teach the
Milk in Motion 3 47
AGsploration curriculum through
includes a teacher’s guide with 22 peer reviewed lesson plans incorporating Do You Get My (Non)Point? 40 778
Burgers, Steaks, and Chops: inquiry and experiential based hands-on activities, agriculture-based educational
their schools, communities, and
Food For Thought 5 105
4-H programs.
Looking at Beef, Pork, and Lamb materials, and evaluation tools. The curriculum is aligned with the Maryland Animal Digestion 5 78
Voluntary Curriculum Standards and focuses on three main areas: production Buy Close to Home, Eat Locally Grown 28 508
agriculture, the environment, and health and nutrition as it pertains to
Buy Close to Home, Eat agriculture. In addition, a careers component is included to help youth think
Food, Fiber, and More 15 611
Persistent Pests 5 73
Locally Grown about pursuing post-secondary degrees and careers in agriculture and science-
Grains: The Whole Story 8 218
related fields. While written to Maryland Standards, this curriculum can easily be
Send in the Sun 1 23
Conservation Choices: How replicated and adapted for use in any state. The AGsploration team focused on
What’s In Your Genes? 6 331
partnering with stakeholders in an effort
Farmers and Developers Protect to integrate this program into Maryland
Conservation Choices 1 16
the Bay public, private and home school settings
Who Lives Here? 4 108
as well as and out-of-school time TOTAL 159 3,537
Do You Get My (Non) Point? educational programs. In 2011, a multi-
TRAIN THE TRAINER
Additionally, portions of the lesson plans were taught at various
faceted approach was taken to pilot test 112 youth development
Modeling Pollution in a Watershed professionals have been
events, meetings, and fair to approximately 1,600 youth.
the curriculum. This included training
fifty-five teens as instructors to teach the trained to teach the
Down and Dirty With curriculum and expanding outreach AGsploration curriculum via
Biosecurity programming. Another element was the web conferencing, staff in-
Summer Science Programs where youth services, and state volunteer
Food, Fiber, and More from experienced lessons, visited farms, and trainings.
learned about agro-science related
Animals degrees and career opportunities. SUMMER PROGRAMS
80 middle school youth have been
Food for Thought: Agriculture engaged in curriculum activities, farm visits, and
Initial
in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed evaluation data showed that 75% of agriculture and science career exploration.
participants indicated having a greater
Food Safety is for Everyone understanding of how Maryland
agriculture relates to science and 74%
Grains: The Whole Story showed an understanding of how
Maryland agriculture benefits them and
Horses and Evolution their communities.
It’s Just Dirt
Milk in Motion: a Dynamic ~ AGsploration youth participants
Dairy Experiment
Moo Who?
Using pre- and post-assessment, approximately 1,500 students were
Persistent Pests evaluated across all of the content modules.
Poultry: Feed Basics for a Maryland is a rapidly urbanizing state. Its
% Average Increase in Content Knowledge
Growing Bird growing population currently
exceeds 5 million people, most of Health and nutrition topics
whom are living in urban and suburban
Send in the Sun: A Look at areas and are several generations
Photosynthesis removed from agriculture and farm life. Environmental topics
Even so, agriculture remains one
Something Fishy: Aquaculture of the top industries in the state of Production agriculture topics
in Maryland Maryland. It is a major force driving the
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
state’s economy and affects each and
What’s In Your Genes? every resident as consumers of Students were asked several questions pertaining to their attitudes regarding science and
agricultural products. Agriculture agriculture in both the pre- and post-test. Improvement in attitude was demonstrated for each
literacy is crucial to the success question asked. Results for four of the questions are shown below.
Who Lives Here? Species of
of Maryland communities. % of Students Reporting an Improved Attitude
the Bay Region and Watershed
Percent Increase
The 2009 National Science Academy “Science is useful for solving everyday problems.”
"Science is useful for solving everyday problems."
Wild & Wooly Rising above the Gathering Storm report
“When II graduate from high school, II would like to
identified a marked decline in science "When graduate from high school, would like to
literacy and a drop in the number of have a job related to science." related to science.”
have a job
young people across the country who "Maryland agriculture is beneficial to me and my
“Maryland agriculture is beneficial to me and my family.”
family."
pursue careers in math and science.
Since the teaching of agriculture cannot “I like science.”
be separated from the teaching of "I like science."
science, technology, engineering, and
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
math (STEM), learning about agriculture
contributes to science proficiency and Data shows that the AGsploration program
prepares students for college about STEM and their STEM
study and careers in science competencies, and in
fields.
STEM fields.
"It is the policy of the University of Maryland, Agricultural Experiment Station and University of Maryland Extension, that no person shall be subjected to
discrimination on the grounds of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital or parental status, or disability."