Amazing agriculture adventure engages kids

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This article was published 28/10/2014 (4023 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

School teachers will probably admit it’s hard to engage elementary students all the time.

Conventional distractions that Baby Boomers appreciated — friends, TV, seasonal sports, music – are compounded today by cell phones, tablets, video games, streaming TV and music, the Internet and year-long sports. Educators feel the challenge to keep kids attentive and on task and, by and large, they do a great job.

It’s always good to have a little help, though.

Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba’s (AITC-M) Amazing Agriculture Adventure supports teachers and young learners with innovative and engaging programming about the agriculture industry in Manitoba.

For three days in mid-September, busloads of children from Grades 4-5 arrive at the U of M Faculty of Agricultural & Food Sciences Glenlea Farm and the Richardson International Kelburn farm, both just off Highway 75, 15 kilometres outside the Perimeter Highway, and they move through a series of stations, each one with a hands-on activity that teaches them something intriguing and curious about agriculture.

Learners bombard each stop with wide eyes, curious questions and imploring hands as in “Let me see it!”

At the beehive station, students attempt to locate the queen bee amidst the thousands of bees frenetically climbing over each other in a meshed wooden frame.

Students turn real canola seeds into canola oil; they play with a large, interactive watershed game board and witness how run-off happens; they take a mock bank loan and try to run a profitable farm; they handle different veggies and learn about healthy eating habits.
The stations are run by volunteers from the agricultural industry.

Jill Hollosi, a writer with Issues Ink, an agricultural publishing and marketing company, worked at the wheat-grinding station, where participants not only turned wheat into real flour,  but also learned that the English idiom, ‘Separating the wheat from the chaff’ literally means discarding useless chaff from a wheat stalk.

Jill believes in helping students connect education to everyday life. “It’s important that youth have a good understanding of the role agriculture plays – many students have no idea how food ends up on our tables.”

AITC-M project co-ordinator Diane Mauthe expanded the impact of the three days by connecting Louis Riel School Division high school students from College Jeanne Sauvé, J.H Bruns and Windsor Park Collegiate with the elementary participants.  

“High school students not only learn a great deal about agriculture by leading the elementary students through the stations, but they also expand their leadership and interpersonal skills.”

More information about AIC-M’s innovative programming is available at http://www.aitc.mb.ca/.

Adriano Magnifico is a community correspondent for St. Boniface. You can contact him at amagnif@mymts.net