Curated OER
Organic Farming / Agriculture
Want an organic farming resource packed with experiments, background information, science fair projects, and topics of interest for further research? Here it is. Young environmental scientists can explore concepts involved in organic...
ReadWriteThink
Let It Grow: An Inquiry-Based Organic Gardening Research Project
How does your garden grow? An inquiry-based, organic gardening unit asks young scientists to research a vegetable or flower, create an environment for it, and then plant and tend to the seedling. Gardeners develop their own research...
Earth Day Network
Staying Green While Being Clean
Clean up the environment with a lesson that focuses on replacing hazardous cleaning supplies with green, environmentally-friendly products. Using a dirty patch of surface as a control area, kids clean other parts of various surfaces...
Curated OER
Organic Matter
Written for an agriculture curriculum, this presentation on organic matter is also informative for gardening or horticulture classes. It details the chemical makeup, affecting factors, functions, maintenance, and composting to create a...
Curated OER
What's Organic?
Young scholars discuss background information presented by the teacher and read dictionary definitions for the words "organic" and "synthetic." For this gardengin lesson, students complete a worksheet on the material. Young scholars grow...
Curated OER
The Cream of the Crop
Students read and discuss article, "Simple Method Found to Vastly Increase Crop Yields," then research the basic components of conventional and organic agricultural methods. They, in groups, organize and present their research to the class.
Curated OER
Slow Food: A Different Path
Students investigate the slow food movement through a reading and activity. In this slow food lesson, students read about the differences in fast food and slow food and the ties to sustainable agriculture. They nominate a local specialty...
Curated OER
The Economics of Organic Agriculture
Students examine how organic agriculture affects farm profitability and how government programs affect organic agriculture. In this organic agriculture instructional activity students complete an activity on costs and returns.
Learning Games Lab
Nitrogen in Fertilizer
Nitrogen is an essential element for productive farming. An interactive lesson explores the chemical makeup of different fertilizers and their corresponding nitrogen content. The interactive challenges individuals to complete molecular...
One Hen
Making Choices
When choosing what foods to eat, there are a lot of factors to consider. To help make the decision a little easier, young learners work in small groups developing short plays, stories, or advertisements that address the different issues...
Curated OER
Sustainable Livestock
Students investigate healthy eating habits by researching livestock. In this food sustainability instructional activity, students research the negative impact factory farming has on our environment due to pollution. Students define...
Curated OER
What's Organic?
Students define and discuss terms organic and synthetic, read article pertaining to organic agricultural practices in Oklahoma, complete worksheet, grow plants using both commercial and organic fertilizer, compare growth rates, and chart...
Curated OER
Why Eat Organic?
Ninth graders explore the concept of organic eating. In this environmental stewardship lesson, 9th graders compare and contrast organic foods with conventional foods and discuss the benefits of eating organic foods.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Introducing Ecosystem Services
Ecosystems provide many things humans not only use but also need in order to survive. The last activity in the series of seven introduces scholars to the idea of ecosystem services, that ecosystems provide humans with many things we...
Curated OER
Real People, Real Farms: Case studies of organic agriculture
Eighth graders study examples of organic agriculture from around the country. In this sustainable agriculture lesson students apply what they learn to real life situations.
Curated OER
Taming Wild Land
Third graders consider the habitat needs of living things and how extensive farming in an area can affect the plants and animals of a region. They participate in a simulation to show how changing the habitat in one area can greatly...
Curated OER
Toward a Sustainable Agriculture
Students analyze organic production systems. In this organic agriculture lesson, students examine key organic practices for both crop and livestock. This lesson includes 5 different activities, 4 critical thinking questions and...
Curated OER
Sustainable Agriculture
Students perform an experiment to find out if plants grow best when grown in soil with no fertilizer, with chemical fertilizers, or with compost that they have made themselves. Students discover how agriculture practices can benefit the...
United Nations
Compost Monitor Training
What should go in the trash, and what can be composted? Guide your young conservationists through the process of composing their trash with a activity about the different ways we can dispose of garbage. Using a trash bag with clean...
Agriculture in the Classroom
A Rafter of Turkeys
How did that turkey get from the early Aztec culture to your table? Learn about the history of wild and domesticated turkeys in North America, as well as their inclusion in Thanksgiving traditions, with a two-part agricultural science...
Curated OER
Ag in My Community; Agriculture
Learners build knowledge about agriculture as it relates to their communities' commodities. In this agriculture lesson plan, students brainstorm about conditions in their community with regards to growing different types of crops....
Curated OER
Fresh Foods from Farm to Table
Are you a good egg? Learners begin a farm-to-table lesson by acting out verbs in groups to demonstrate the egg production process, and then research the steps using online resources. Several excellent videos are linked through the...
Curated OER
How Hot is Too Hot?
Fifth graders use the scientific method to conduct experiments on the temperature effects on organisms. In this temperature effects on organisms lesson plan, 5th graders observe and record the hatching or the developing of organisms into...
Curated OER
Where Do Your Veggies Grow?
First graders investigate the origins of vegetables. In this Science lesson, 1st graders identify where fruits and vegetables come from. Students describe how people utilize plants.