Title: The Engineering and Math of STEM in Agriculture

Onsite Dates: June 18 & 19

Course Dates: June 18-July 16

Last day to register: June 12

Local Host: North Central Iowa Agriculture in the Classroom

Location: Prairie Lakes Church (200 Ave O, Fort Dodge, IA)

Contact(s): Cathryn Carney (IALF), ccarney@iowaagliteracy.org; Josie Mbaye (IALF), jmbaye@iowaagliteracy.org; Brenda Mormann (NCI AITC), b.mormann@nciagintheclassroom.org 

Course #: 319154

Registration: https://aealearning.truenorthlogic.com/ia/empari/learning2/registration/presentRegistrationDetails/319154 

The Engineering and Math of STEM in Agriculture

Prairie Lakes Church, Fort Dodge

June 18 & 19, 8:00am - 4:30pm

This fast-paced hybrid professional development includes two days face-to-face and course material online. It will give teachers, extension personnel, and others who educate youth the skills they need to implement many of the Iowa Core science and social studies standards. Using agriculture as the context to teach standards, course participants will integrate agriculture into science, social studies, language arts and math to make learning real and relevant for students. Participants will leave the workshop with instructional strategies, lessons, and activities that can be immediately implemented into their classroom with little or no additional effort. Student engagement and impact will be high with hands-on learning.

During one day of the course, participants will learn about STEM and its connections to agriculture. They will visit agribusinesses such as a corn milling plant, specialty crop farm, and cattle feedlot. Through onsite tours, participants will gather background knowledge of agriculture in their area. A second day of the course will focus on implementing lessons learned, connecting learning to STEAM and social studies, and making it relevant to student learners. Participants will continue to learn about STEAM and its connection to the agriculture industry along with how participants can implement these agricultural concepts into their classrooms.  

This hybrid course is a part of the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation and Local Host summer professional development workshops. The course instructors will be Josie Mbaye (IALF), Kelly Foss (IALF), and Local Hosts North Central Iowa Agriculture in the Classroom. 

Fees & Credit: The two-day in-person workshop is free to attend and includes on-site tours, hands-on activities, resource materials, lunches and more! One licensure renewal credit is available from AEA for $35. One graduate credit is available through Drake University, Grandview University, and Morningside College for $130.

Register to attend: Registration can be done online by creating an account in the Professional Learning Registration System. Once an account is created (which could take up to 24 hours), login and search for course number 319154. Then follow the links to register for the course.

The Engineering and Math of STEM in Agriculture is one of eight summer workshops hosted by the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation in collaboration with Local Hosts.  For a complete list of dates and locations visit: https://www.iowaagliteracy.org/tools-resources/general/professional-development