Youth participating in a 2011 Adventures in AGsploration Camp
If you ask a middle school-aged student where hamburger comes from, it’s not uncommon to hear “McDonald’s” as an answer.
That’s a large part of the reason a group of University of Maryland Extension (UME) faculty members took it upon themselves to develop a program called AGsploration: The Science of Maryland Agriculture.
“You get funny answers from kids because they just don’t know where their food comes from anymore or what agriculture is,” says Kristen Wilson, a former UME educator who led the team that developed AGsploration. “Agriculture is such a big part of our state and economy but we’re several generations removed from people having experience on the farm or living on the farm.”
Created in 2010, the AGsploration curriculum program is geared specifically toward middle school students in Maryland focusing not only on agriculture but developing skills related to science, technology, engineering and math, known as STEM in the education field. The curriculum was developed by educators involved with 4-H and other youth programs and has earned several national and statewide honors, including two awarded by the National Association of County Agricultural Agents.
UME educators reached more than 6,000 youth and adults during the pilot testing phase for AGsploration -- largely through 4-H programs -- but this spring will begin marketing the program to school teachers across the state. Starting in February, UME will host a series of one-day seminars where public, private and homeschool teachers can receive the training, curriculum and teaching materials necessary to implement the AGsploration program in their own classrooms – all for free.
“A lot of people have put a lot of time and work towards producing this tool that’s really great so we just want to get it out there into people’s hands that can benefit from it,” says Sara Meagher BhaduriHauck, a Harford County faculty extension assistant who will be helping to lead the AGsploration teacher trainings.
The AGsploration curriculum includes 22 lessons on subjects ranging from how pollutants affect the Chesapeake Bay to the genetic diversity of dairy and beef cows, as well as the evolution of horses, farmers market meal planning, and controlling pest populations. The interactive curriculum utilizes hands-on experiments and was created to satisfy the standards and requirements set by the Maryland Department of Education.
“Agriculture is about much more than just growing stuff and AGsploration helps students understand how agriculture is relevant to their daily lives,” says BhaduriHauck. “The curriculum is adaptable to other states but the fact that it’s targeted to our population makes it really come alive for them more so than if it was just generic.”
The team that developed AGsploration also recently launched a website where information on the program is centrally located and educators can download lesson plans. The teacher training sessions will be held at locations all around the state between February and June. For more information on the program, training dates and locations, or to download the curriculum, visit https://agnr.umd.edu/agsploration.
