Workshop gives a new perspective on teaching biology

Amy Kochensparger is a Biology, Honors Biology, and CCP Anatomy Educator at Eaton High School. She attended this summer’s Feed the World virtual workshop and found it useful for her as an educator.

My favorite part of using Feed the World curriculum is that the lessons are hands-on and use real-world science to explore the content. Each lab investigation requires students to use application and critical thinking skills and to make predictions or answer a question. I am really looking forward to sharing the lesson Corn Fermentation in a Bag and genetics lessons like Plasmid Modeling with my students because these labs are fun, engaging, and also address key biology content standards.

This curriculum is valuable to my classroom because it places Biology curriculum content in context and allows students to analyze real data. Biology topics like fermentation, ecosystems, and genetics are all included in FTW. Using these inquiry-based lessons will benefit my students by allowing them to apply their content knowledge to real-world situations. Another benefit of FTW is that all of the lessons and links are found on one site; as a teacher I can see the variety of lessons and decide how to best link my content standards to the available labs, lessons, and resources.

The FTW workshop gave me a new perspective in teaching Biology. I was able to participate in all of the labs and ask questions of experts in the field, so I gained knowledge and confidence in using new tools and resources. These experiences broadened my understanding of the many connections between science and agriculture, which I can now use as relevant connections with my students. I also gained valuable resources and access to current science data so students can do real science in my classroom. I really think the best part of the FTW program is that the lessons combine science with careers, technology, and community topics.

The Feed the World workshop is one of the best summer PD sessions for science teachers! Having access to science kits and doing real science during the sessions was engaging and helpful as I learned new techniques. I really enjoyed hearing from the experts in the field and seeing their video footage about how biotechnology is used every day in farming. I plan to take these connections back to share in my classroom with my students.