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The lessons available here for download are Edition 4 (edited 2020).
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Teacher's Guide
OVERVIEW OF LESSONS AND CREDITS
LESSON ALIGNMENT WITH THE NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS
Individual Lesson Plans
ANIMAL AGRICULTURE:
Food, Fiber, and More From Animals
Learn about the varied uses of animal byproducts or coproducts with a focus on Maryland agricultural animals.
Video Lesson Walkthrough - Watch a member of the AGsploration team demonstrate this lesson and share some tips and tricks for succesful teaching.
Learn about sheep and goats and the various products derived from them.
Learning Module - PowerPoint presenation with many photos to supplement lesson.
Career Connections: Sheep Shearer - Find out what it's like to work as a professional sheep shearer.
Differentiate between beef and dairy cattle (Bos taurus) and observe how each evolved over time.
Cattle Breeds Photos (small) - Print, cut apart, and laminate these photo cards to use again and again.
Cattle Breeds Photos (large) - Print or project these full-page versions of the photos when discussing the activity as a class.
Compare and contrast the digestive systems of ruminants (4-chambered stomach) and monogastric (single stomach) animals and compare those with human digestion.
Ruminant Stomach Structures - These photos show the inside of the four chambers of a ruminant's stomach.
Video Lesson Walkthrough - Watch a member of the AGsploration team demonstrate this lesson and share some tips and tricks for succesful teaching.
Career Connections: Animal Nutritionist - Find out what it's like to be an animal nutritionist and agricutlure consultant.
Undressing the Mystery of Meat
Learn about dressing percentages of different animals (beef, pork, and lamb), or how much of the animal is meat after processing has been completed.
Meats Cuts Posters - These diagrams show where various cuts of meat originate on the animal. You may want to laminate for use again and again.
Video Lesson Walkthrough - Watch a member of the AGsploration team demonstrate this lesson and share some tips and tricks for succesful teaching.
Career Connections: Butcher - Dan McGrath, butcher and owner of Galvinell Meat Company, tells about how he chose butchering as a career and gives advice to students thinking about this career.
Milk in Motion: A Dynamic Dairy Experiment
Learn about the dairy industry, dairy products, and the properties and composition of milk.
Dairy Product Nutrition Labels - Print and distribute these nutrition labels for students to analyze. You can laminate them for use again and again.
Video Lesson Walkthrough - Watch a member of the AGsploration team demonstrate this lesson and share some tips and tricks for succesful teaching.
Career Connections: Dairy Farmer - Mike Dywer, facility manager at the University of Maryland Dairy Farm, tells about how he became interested in dairying and gives some advice to future dairymen and dairywomen.
Poultry: Feeding Basics for a Growing Bird
Learn about the effects of nutrition on chicken growth and simulate the mixing of poultry feed using animal feed ratios.
Broiler Chicken Growth Stages (small) - Print, cut apart, and laminate these photo cards to use again and again.
Broiler Chicken Growth Stages (large) - Print or project these full-page versions of the photos when discussing the activity as a class.
Understand how horses evolved over time and compare and contrast how different types of horses are used today.
Evolution Timeline (PDF) - Print as a large poster to use during the lesson.
Evolution Timeline (PowerPoint) - Project onto a screen or whiteboard to use during the lesson.
Ancestor Clue Cards - Print, cut apart, and laminate to use again and again.
Career Connections: Farrier - Farrier Chris Diehl tells about how he became interested in shoeing horses and gives advice to future farriers.
PLANT AGRICULTURE:
Learn about soil as a natural resource: what its components are, how it is used, and whether it is a renewable resource.
Soil Photos - Print or project these photos of different soil types to use with the lesson.
Career Connections: Agronomy Lab Technician - Bill Rohrer and other employees of AgroLab tell about their jobs testing soil, water, and plants using cutting-edge laboratory technology.
Send in the Sun: A Look at Photosynthesis
Observe the results of photosynthesis and lack of photosynthesis over an extended period of time.
Understand the important food and non-food uses of the major grains grown in Maryland.
Grain Photos - Print or project these photos of different grain plants grown in Maryland.
Nutrition Labels - Print these nutrition labels for different food products that contain grains.
Career Connections: Grain Elevator Manager - Alfred Godfrey tells about his path to this career and what he enjoys most about working at a grain elevator.
Explain the role of soybeans and legumes in making nitrogen available and identify a variety of uses for soybeans.
Soybeans Learning Module - Brief PowerPoint presentation with photos to supplement the lesson.
Grains Photos - Print these photos of various grains for students to identify. You may want to laminate for use again and again.
Soybean Product Pictures (small) - Print, cut apart, and laminate these photo cards for use again and again.
Soybean Product Pictures (large) - Print or project these full-page versions of the photos when discussing the activity as a class.
Buy Close to Home, Purchase Locally Grown
Simulate a farmers market to learn about the benefits of locally-grown food.
Food Item Cards - Print and cut apart these cards for students to use during the farmers market simulation.
Paper Money - Print and cut apart for students to use during the farmers market simulation.
MyPlate Dietary Guidlines - Provide this resource to chefs to assist in developing a meal plan.
Develop an understanding of the uses of corn in feeding humans and livestock, fueling our cars, and many other applications.
Corn Photos - Use these images to show the different types of corn.
Corn Products PowerPoint - This brief presentation shows some of the products that contain corn.
AGRICULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT:
Food for Thought: Ag in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Understand the size and importance of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and recognize Maryland agriculture as integral to human life in the watershed.
Ag in the Bay Watershed Map - Print or project this map to show students what agricultural produts are raised throughout the Bay watershed.
Do You Get My (Non)Point? Modeling Pollution in a Watershed
Develop an understanding of ways in which the activities of humans can cause non-point pollution within a watershed.
Background Information - Review this short video for an overview of the lesson content.
Icons for Model Building - Print and cut out these icons and use them to build your watershed model.
Labels for Pollutants - Print and cut out these icons to label your pollutant containers.
Conservation Choices: How Farmers and Developers Protect the Bay
Understand how Maryland farmers and developers can use conservation techniques to reduce environmental damage.
Conservation Practices Matching Cards - Print and cut out these matching cards to use in the lesson activity.
Conservation Practices Photos - Print or project these full-page versions of the photos when discussing the activity as a class.
Who Lives Here? Species of the Bay Region and Watershed
Identify numerous species, including birds and wildlife, living in the Bay and its tributaries, and learn how these species positively or negatively affect the Bay.
Wildlife Photos - Print or project these photos of wildlife that live in the Bay region.
Scenario Outcome Labels - Print and use these to label parts of the room where students will move to select different answers to the scenarios.
AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY:
Simulate the effects of pesticides on an insect population and observe how the population changes over time.
Pest Damage Photos - Print or project these photos as part of the engagement activity.
Something Fishy: Aquaculture in Maryland
Simulate the effects of over-harvesting on fish populations and explain the importance of aquaculture in providing a sustainable food supply.
Career Connections: Oyster Farmer - Find out what it's like to be an oyster farmer.
Learning Module - PowerPoint presenation with photos to supplement lesson.
Learn how to predict plant and animal offspring traits or characteristics using genetics.
Simulate the growth of bacterial colonies, understand causes of foodborne illnesses and how to prevent it, and learn proper hand washing techniques.
Food Safety Learning Modules - Four-part PowerPoint presentation to supplement the lesson.
Down and Dirty with Biosecurity
Research biosecurity strategies and develop a plan to promote biosecurity at a hypothetical livestock facility.
Picture Sort Game - Print these full-page photos and have students decide if each pictured animal is healthy or unhealthy.
Picture Sort Game - Project these photos and have students decide if each pictured animal is healthy or unhealthy.
Picture Sort Game Key - Provides answers and a description of each photo.
Explore DNA, the molecule that is responsible for the inheritance of traits, and understand that selective breeding and genetic engineering are used to develop desired traits.
Video Lesson Walkthrough - Watch a member of the AGsploration team demonstrate this lesson and share some tips and tricks for succesful teaching.
Career Connections: Agronomy Researcher - Find out what it's like to work as an agronomy researcher.
Evaluation
TEACHING REPORT
Use this web form to report teaching every time you conduct an AGsploration lesson.
Additional Resources
OVERVIEW OF LESSONS
Do you know colleagues who may be interested in using AGsploration? This document provides a description of each lesson and describes that activities included in each.
HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MARYLAND AGRICULTURE?
Test your knowledge with this 10 question quiz.
Are there other resources that would help you teach AGsploration better? Did you find a mistake in a lesson, or is something missing? We are constantly making improvements to our program and appreciate your input. Please contact us with your suggestions!
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