91传媒 grant project brings agricultural literacy to Mississippi classrooms
Contact: Meg Henderson
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擧elping K-12 students understand the importance of agriculture and career possibilities is the focus of a $485,000 grant received by Mississippi State from the U.S. Department of Agriculture鈥檚 National Institute of Food and Agriculture, or NIFA.
The four-year project titled Agricultural Science Professional Development, or ACRE 2.0, aims to instruct K-12 teachers how to integrate poultry and food science into existing curriculum, introduce students to career pathways in these fields, and forge a university-driven support and mentorship system. The grant provides participating teachers financial assistance to attend training sessions and materials to facilitate ACRE 2.0-based lessons throughout the school year.
Principal investigator and project director Stephanie Lemley, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership in 91传媒鈥檚 College of Education, and other project leaders are training a total of three cohorts of K-12 teachers, each participating in the program for a full academic year. The first cohort includes 28 teachers from 14 school districts across the state.
听Each group begins the program with a professional development session at 91传媒, where they learn about the program and prepare to implement it in their classrooms. This past summer, the teachers received instruction from project leaders, attended guest lectures, and created lesson plans aligning with ACRE 2.0 content. Throughout this academic year, they are attending follow-up training sessions and assessments.
Lemley explained that agricultural literacy encompasses the kinds of literacy skills鈥攔eading, writing, speaking and listening鈥攗sed in classrooms and in everyday life. She and Carley Morrison, an associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences鈥 School of Human Sciences, aim to help teachers introduce agricultural literacy content to students through their own subject content.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not asking teachers to create new content but instead to place the skills and concepts they are already teaching within an agricultural context,鈥 Morrison said. 鈥淔or instance, a science teacher could explain the concepts of solid, liquid and gas matter using food-based examples.鈥
Associate Extension Professor Courtney Crist and Assistant Professor Shecoya White, faculty in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion, developed the food science curriculum, which teachers can adapt to their respective subjects and grade levels.
鈥淔ood Science is based on STEM principles鈥攕cience, technology, engineering and math鈥攕o there鈥檚 a natural integration of these concepts into the K-12 curriculum,鈥 Crist said.
鈥淎s a food scientist and a parent, my kids are aware that there are careers in the field,鈥 added White, 鈥淗owever, they鈥檒l better appreciate the passion food scientists have for their jobs when they experience food science with hands-on lessons on their level.鈥
Associate Professor Kelley Wamsley and Assistant Teaching Professor Jessica Wells, both in 91传媒鈥檚 Department of Poultry Science, developed the poultry science curriculum.
鈥淧oultry is the number one agricultural commodity in Mississippi, but most Mississippians don鈥檛 know much about the career opportunities in the industry,鈥 Wells said. 鈥淲e want to plant that seed early.鈥
鈥淭here are also many misconceptions that people, both young and old, have about how poultry is produced,鈥 Wamsley added. 鈥淭hrough these lessons, we can give children the facts and correct these misunderstandings.鈥
The team is excited about building on this program throughout the school year.
鈥淧art of our program鈥檚 success relies on forging relationships between the university and our K-12 schools to collectively support literacy and introduce children to careers that will help feed their own and future generations,鈥 Lemley said.
The team is recruiting teachers to join the second and third cohorts.
鈥淲e hope that the teachers participating in ACRE 2.0 will share what they鈥檝e learned with their colleagues so students can be empowered with knowledge about the food they eat and inspired to explore careers that they otherwise might not consider,鈥 Lemley said.
To request information about joining a cohort, contact Lemley at sbennett@colled.msstate.edu. For more about the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, visit ; the College of Education at .
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Participating school districts and teachers include:
Calhoun School District鈥擜namaria Moore and Amanda Taylor
Cleveland School District鈥擳ammie Marlow
Coffeeville School District鈥擜nthony Mason
Enterprise School District鈥擟indy Martin and Mary Lucus
Forest Municipal School District鈥擝rent Foreman
Kemper County鈥擜shton Clark
Neshoba Central School District鈥擪reissa Reed
Noxubee County Schools鈥擫asonja Randle Ferguson
Pontotoc City School District鈥擪im Brumley, Renea Hinton, Laverne Richardson, Rachel Sneed, Charlotte Whitworth, Emily Clements
Quitman County School District鈥擩oAnn Davis, Chymia Ingram, and Baxter Swearengen
Rankin County School District鈥擳ammie Bright
Scott County School District鈥擩oni Boswell, Emma Foreman, Chiquita McClendon, Chassidy Evans, and Hanna Williams
Simpson County鈥擯atrick Morgan
Starkville Oktibbeha School District 鈥擵eronica Blair and Kaitland Evans