I have tried for years to make the concepts we cover in my AP environmental science class easier to understand and more real and connected to my student's lives. We are in a suburban setting and the kids just do not understand what goes into producing the food they eat. They struggle to understand how the nutrients cycle through their local environment and why that is so vitally important to society. My kids do great at knowing what is happening, but they continue to struggle with the "WHY" it is an important part.
By incorporating aquaponics into my classroom, not only will we be able to grow nutrient-rich, organic produce, but we will also be able to help the kids to understand the "WHY" of everything in my class.
The aquaponic system can be linked to nearly every unit of study we cover. The clay pellets make it a cost-prohibitive project for our class, but they are vitally important since they allow the roots of the plants to both have a solid to grow through but the clay also is what the bacteria attach to so that the nutrients can cycle and become incorporated into the water where the plants will absorb them. We would never be able to afford this without your help, and my students would not be able to have this valuable learning experience.
Not only will this project allow us to grow food for our students to eat, but it will also help show how food crops can be grown in cold weather climates year round. It will show how pesticide use is decreased using aquaponics and also how our demands on fresh water are also decreased using aquaponics. These are a few topics, the sky is the limit to what we can do with it.
About my class
I have tried for years to make the concepts we cover in my AP environmental science class easier to understand and more real and connected to my student's lives. We are in a suburban setting and the kids just do not understand what goes into producing the food they eat. They struggle to understand how the nutrients cycle through their local environment and why that is so vitally important to society. My kids do great at knowing what is happening, but they continue to struggle with the "WHY" it is an important part.
By incorporating aquaponics into my classroom, not only will we be able to grow nutrient-rich, organic produce, but we will also be able to help the kids to understand the "WHY" of everything in my class.
The aquaponic system can be linked to nearly every unit of study we cover. The clay pellets make it a cost-prohibitive project for our class, but they are vitally important since they allow the roots of the plants to both have a solid to grow through but the clay also is what the bacteria attach to so that the nutrients can cycle and become incorporated into the water where the plants will absorb them. We would never be able to afford this without your help, and my students would not be able to have this valuable learning experience.
Not only will this project allow us to grow food for our students to eat, but it will also help show how food crops can be grown in cold weather climates year round. It will show how pesticide use is decreased using aquaponics and also how our demands on fresh water are also decreased using aquaponics. These are a few topics, the sky is the limit to what we can do with it.