Exploring Agriculture & Food Preservation: A Hands-On Professional Development Experience
Educators play a vital role in helping students make connections between classroom learning and the world around them. This interactive, fast-paced professional development course equips teachers, extension personnel, and youth educators with practical strategies to incorporate agriculture and food science into multiple subject areas, all while meeting Iowa Core science and social studies standards.
By using food preservation as a lens, participants will explore how science, history, and agriculture intersect—making learning engaging, relevant, and applicable to students'' everyday lives. This experience will provide ready-to-use instructional strategies, hands-on activities, and real-world applications that can be easily implemented in classrooms with minimal preparation.
Day 1: Discovering Food Preservation in Action
- Gain a deeper understanding of how food preservation techniques—both historical and modern—are used to enhance food safety, reduce waste, and support sustainability.
- Participate in guided tours at Living History Farms, a local bakery, and a produce farm, where industry experts will demonstrate time-honored and modern preparation and preservation methods.
- Connect food preservation practices to agriculture, environmental science, and economic sustainability.
Day 2: Translating Knowledge into Classroom Learning
- Explore the science behind food preservation, including microbial growth and temperature control.
- Investigate how food preservation has evolved throughout history.
- Learn how to integrate agriculture-based learning into STEM, social studies, language arts, and math curricula.
- Utilize hands-on lesson plans and interactive resources that make food science and agriculture exciting for students.
This course is perfect for educators looking to bring real-world applications into their teaching, spark curiosity in students, and provide engaging, hands-on learning experiences. Leave with practical knowledge, ready-made resources, and a renewed enthusiasm for teaching agriculture and food science.