News: Teacher stories

The water cycle and erosion are part of Ohio’s fourth grade science standards. Julia Moncrief’s students at Meigs Intermediate School in southeastern Ohio did chemical water tests for dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrate, and phosphates of the water in the local stream behind the school. She expanded the activity to the garden club to include students from other classrooms. These students live in an area where there has been a history …

Did you know that water quality can be assessed by the number and type of organisms in the water? The Ohio Corn & Wheat-sponsored Feed the World workshops include great hands-on lessons and also provide teachers with the supplies needed to share the lessons with students. Kecia Slob-Stewart of River Valley High School attended the summer workshop and took advantage of the great fall weather to do the lessons with …

Wendy Baker teaches a water quality unit to her 4th graders at Grover Hill Elementary each year, including Ohio Corn & Wheat sponsored-Feed The World water quality lessons in that unit. To begin, Patrick Troyer from the Paulding County Soil and Water Conservation District came to Baker’s class to talk about macroinvertebrates. She said, “We walk to the stream where he uses swoop nets to bring some out for the …

The National FFA convention offers lots of opportunities for learning in the teacher workshop strand. This year, Courtney Bockbrader, Whitney Short, and Meredith Wolfe led a session on bringing hands-on, science-based labs to life in a variety of classes. Approximately 30 people attended the session. Presenters covered water quality and led the group through several activities including a stream simulation with biotic sampling and water quality testing of temperature, pH, dissolved …

Natural water sources’ health can be affected by many things. Killbuck Creek runs along the River View High School school property, so the environmental science class has been able to monitor a range of chemical and biological indicators of water quality. Students learned about water quality, macroinvertebrates, and methods for testing water quality through the Feed The World curriculum. Instructor Allyssa McMullen attended the Ohio Corn & Wheat-sponsored FTW workshop …

Farmers need to know if their soil will hold onto nutrients or wash away easily. Valerie Karhoff, Agricultural Education and FFA Advisor at Lakota High School, presented the Feed the World soil texture lessons so her students would become familiar with the three major textures and understand the various sizes of sand, silt, and clay particles. These sediments are weathered from surface rocks or eroded by water or wind and …

“When you’re collecting water samples, watch out for dogs, herons, and mud.”—these are words of advice from Thomas Weger at Elida High School. Weger’s math remediation class used the Feed the World water quality lessons to test water in four different locations: a river, two creeks, and a pond. They were surprised to find that the pond had a zero phosphorus level and stayed clear, but the others showed 1000. “…

What would it be like to be a farmer in another part of the world, where education and government stability as well as weather events can affect productivity? Want to help your students understand those concepts? The lesson “Farming for the future” on Ohio Corn & Wheat-sponsored Feed the World challenges students to consider the factors that can impact yield. Rebecca Scott teaches at Field High School, and after attending …