Drones (or UAVs-unmanned aerial vehicles) are taking to the skies. What are they doing up there? What other technologies are there that help growers become more productive, yet more thoughtful about the effects on the environment, on which they depend on to continue producing food? This unit features 3 lessons and 5 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Looking for an activity that combines robotics, coding, and engineering with a real life problem? This unit uses MakeBlock parts, Scratch programming, and modeling to help students design a solution to soil compaction. This unit features 2 lessons and 2 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Grow soybeans using Round-Up Ready seeds to illustrate how biotechnology can be used as a tool to increase production. Introduce students to different options for growing soybeans, investigate no-till farming versus conventional cultivation and the effects of each on soil fertility, and analyze Round-up Ready soybean growth. Students share the results of their investigations in a technical paper. This unit features 3 lessons and 9 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

“Soil” doesn’t just mean “dirt.” It is a mixture of minerals like rocks and clay, organic material like dead leaves, living organisms like worms, microbes, and insects, and even air and water. There is an entire world beneath your feet! Soil quality is important because it helps to sustain an ecosystem responsible for our food and fiber needs, environmental quality, and human health. This unit features 1 lesson and 1 file. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

In this threaded PBL*, (an effort to integrate agricultural understandings into the normal sequence of an Environmental Science classroom) students will conduct several “close reads” (reading for understanding, analysis and application) which expose students to the science and engineering that is required to understand what farmers have to consider as they produce crops. These close reads take complex content and make it readable for students who are in middle school or high school and allow the teacher to incorporate literacy skills within their classroom. In the last section, students will conduct a real life simulation that illustrates a decision-making process to determine the application of chemicals to a fictional farm while addressing the needs of controlling specific nuisance weeds. Students will take a position on the application of chemicals to a field and defend their statement. This unit features 7 lessons and 12 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

If the atmosphere is about 80% Nitrogen (N2), but plants cannot use that form, how do they get nitrogen? In this unit, students plant and care for soybeans under one of five different nitrogen/microbe regimes.

As the plants grow, students analyze and maintain records of their plant’s progress. Students will become familiar with the vegetative and reproductive stages of the soybean (more information and pictures of these stages can be found at the OSU crop extensions sites). Students keep records of the dates in which they observe these reproductive transitions. This unit features 2 lessons and 7 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Investigate various milk sources and their composition through core disciplines of Science, Math, Social Studies and Language Arts to discover the availability of milk types within multiple cultures that serve as a complete food source and help to ensure food security. This unit features 6 lessons and 10 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Become a “farmer” on a journey from pre-planting to harvest to see what decisions farmers are making every year as they farm. Growers across the country are gaining access to more and more data about their farms. The data is being gathered through equipment or other precision agriculture techniques, then it must be analyzed so that decisions made will be based on evidence. Scientists in all disciplines use the same practices as farmers. This unit features 5 lessons and 27 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Soil is an ecosystem, full of both living organisms and nonliving factors. These factors interact within the ecosystem to support one another. Find out what methods are used by soil scientists and microbiologists to measure the diversity of life in soil. Students will be given a scenario and led through this series of activities to determine the healthiest soils. This unit features 3 lessons and 9 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Compostable plastics are a new generation of plastics that are biodegradable through composting. They are derived generally from renewable raw materials like starch (e.g. corn, potato, tapioca etc), cellulose, soy protein, lactic acid etc., are non-hazardous/non-toxic in production and decompose back into carbon dioxide, water, and biomass when composted. Some compostable plastics may not be derived from renewable materials, but instead made from petroleum or made by bacteria through a process of microbial fermentation. This unit features 3 lessons and 2 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

The technology innovations in use in the agriculture industry have been touted as second only to those of the US military. What are these innovations? GPS guided tractors, follow-along equipment, application of fertilizer or herbicide only where needed, variable rate planting, artificial intelligence that can identify weeds and spray them individually—these are just a few of these innovations. This unit illustrates how ozobots can be used to simulate one of these advances. This unit features 4 lessons and 7 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Have you ever done a DNA extraction? Most DNA extractions are done with a known source and students can visualize DNA. The favorite items are strawberries or students’ own cheek cells. This unit shows what biotech scientists do next. This unit features 2 lessons and 3 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Understand and appreciate food producers through this case study and determine what decisions must be made on a yearly, monthly, or daily basis to maintain an environmental system that will continue to produce food and products to meet consumer demands while maintaining soil and water quality. This unit features 3 lessons and 7 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

Soil tests show the pH and nutrient amounts in a field. Soil chemistry determines the amount of root growth, the amount of nutrients that can be held in the soil, and the ability of plants to take in and use those nutrients. But why is pH important and what are the consequences of different levels of pH? This unit features 3 lessons and 5 files. Lessons are aligned to NGSS.

This activity is an indoor lab investigation where students compare and contrast different growing environments for a lima bean seed and discover the optimal conditions needed for growth.

Students learn about geotechnical engineers and their use of physical properties, such as soil density, to determine the ability of various soils to offer support to foundations. In an associated activity, students determine the bulk densities of soil samples, and assess their suitability to support foundations.

Students determine the mass and volume of soil samples and calculate the density of the soils. They use this information to determine the suitability of the soil to support a building foundation.

This activity is a investigation where students observe soil and rocks, record their similarities and differences, interpret their findings, and are guided to develop a new investigable question.

Students conduct experiments to determine what environmental factors favor decomposition by soil microbes. They use chunks of carrots for the materials to be decomposed, and their experiments are carried out in plastic bags filled with dirt. Every few days students remove the carrots from the dirt and weigh them. Depending on the experimental conditions, after a few weeks most of the carrots have decomposed completely.

Waste disposal has been an ongoing problem since medieval times. Environmental engineers are employed to develop technologies to dispose of the enormous amount of trash produced in the United States. In this lesson, students will learn about the three methods of waste disposal in use by modern communities. They will also investigate how engineers design sanitary landfills to prevent leachate from polluting the underlining groundwater.