Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix
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Lesson Plans (5)
Exploring Aquaponics (Grades 3-5)
Students identify the basic needs of plants and fish and engineer, assemble, maintain, and observe a small-scale aquaponics system that meets plant and fish needs. Grades 3-5
Exploring Aquaponics (Grades K-2)
Students identify the basic needs of plants and fish and engineer, assemble, maintain, and observe a small-scale aquaponics system that meets plant and fish needs. Grades K-2
Test Tube Hydroponics (Grades 3-5)
Investigate the importance of nutrients for plant growth and discover how plants grow without soil by growing and observing plants in a test tube hydroponic system. Grades 3-5
Test Tube Hydroponics (Grades 6-8)
Investigate the importance of nutrients to support plant growth and discover how plants grow without soil by growing and observing plants in a test tube hydroponic system. Grades 6-8
What? No Soil?
After learning the five basic requirements of plant growth, students discuss terms related to hydroponics. Students then build and maintain hydroponic units from soda bottles. Grades 6-8
Companion Resources (7)
Carl's Fish Farm: An Introduction to Aquaculture
Spend a day with Carl the Channel Catfish as he gives a rhyming tour of his daily life on a fish farm in South Georgia. This educational book contains real-life environmental photos as well as illustrations of Carl, our narrator. Children will learn what aquaculture is, what kinds of organisms can be farmed in aquaculture, how fish are farmed, and what equipment is used.
Outdoor Farm, Indoor Farm
Discover how both outdoor and indoor farms sustainably grow the food we eat throughout the year in this vibrant, rhyming picture book. Outdoor farm, tractors toil. Indoor farm, zero soil. With energetic, enchanting verse and sunshiny, colorful illustrations, discover how the food you eat is grown both outside—and inside! Join two children as they explore the inner workings of an outdoor farm and an indoor farm. You'll see how a variety of amazing machinery like tractors and drones along with innovative farming techniques yield the wonderful food we all love to enjoy.
Test Tube Hydroponics Kit
Investigate the importance of nutrients for plant growth and discover how plants grow without soil. Use this kit to grow and observe plants in a test tube hydroponic system. Kit includes rock wool, seed-starter trays, soybean seeds, plant tags, test tubes, and pipettes for 35 students. The Test Tube Hydroponics Kit complements the lesson Test Tube Hydroponics. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
How Do You Grow a Fish Sandwich? Video
Have you heard of hydroponics or aquaculture? In this video from the Gee Whiz in Agriculture series, you get a fish-eye view of fish and lettuce production in an ecologically-closed system. We look at plant and fish life cycles, showing how each is dependent upon the other for nourishment. Concepts of symbiotic life systems, chemical and nutrient cycling, and integrated food production are highlighted. A "model ecosystem" can be used to demonstrate concepts, both in the program and the classroom. This video is available on DVD or YouTube. Order this video online from agclassroomstore.com.
Vertical Farming video
Use this 4-minute video to explore the benefits and challenges to vertical farming systems which utilize hydroponics to grow plants. Can the land and water conservation advantages outweigh the cost of creating artificial light?
Programming Sun and Rain
On the cramped urban campus of Boston Latin School, students grow an acre’s worth of vegetables in an old shipping container that’s been transformed into a computer-controlled hydroponic farm. Using a wall-mounted keyboard or a mobile app, the student farmers can monitor their crops, tweak the climate, make it rain and schedule sunrise. Use this article to illustrate an example of hydroponics, the use of technology in agriculture, and/or urban farming.
Indoor Gardening Curriculum
A school garden is a powerful education tool to teach about many subjects including science, math, language arts, engineering, technology, and even stewardship. With any type of garden, indoors or outdoors, students have an opportunity to engage in agricultural practices on a small scale, learning about the web of interactions among the living and nonliving players that sustain life. The Indoor Gardening Curriculum is a compilation of lessons specifically focused on building and running simple hydroponic and aquaponic systems in the classroom, as well as growing in soil on vertical shelving. Each lesson has been designed to give teachers practical low-cost options to growing in their classrooms.