Plant an idea...watch it grow
We’ve begun seeing a major shift in teaching standards among k-12 schools, emphasizing the need for more hands-on experiential learning in the classroom. Teachers are responding by creating new, forward-thinking curriculum that focuses on tremendously important topics like a sustainability, climate change and food. Providing students with the opportunity to think creatively around solutions for real world problems will only better equip them for the future.
The Newton, Massachusetts F.A Day Middle School is doing just that. Over the past few months we’ve been working with eighth grade teacher, Kayla Klein, to develop a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) engineering design challenge to bring awareness around sustainability and urban agriculture to her classroom. In preparation for kickoff of this project, the students have been learning about climate change and its effect on the earth and our food supply, paying special attention to the drought in California.
The challenge: research, develop, engineer and market a container for growing lettuce that uses the least amount of resources possible.
The project began this past Monday and will continue throughout the month of May. Students will be collaborating in groups to engineer their design, maintaining their containers and using specific measurements to quantify the success of their product. Not only that, they’re also tasked with developing and executing a marketing plan.
Come June, students will have quite a bit of experience with their own innovations in food production, and will be visiting the Freight Farms office and touring the Leafy Green Machine. We’re looking forward to hearing their solutions! Stay tuned for more updates on how it's going.