Document Type
Teacher Resource
Grade Level
Grades: 6th - 8th
Publication Date
2020
Description
Out of the Silo: Agronomic STEM is a grade 6 – 8 curriculum which highlights the interplay between science, technology, engineering and mathematics inherent in the field of Agronomy. The growing of plants for commercial use, particularly food, is the essence of agronomy and the heart of this curriculum.
Agronomy in the Illinois region began long before Europeans arrived. Native Americans found the soil and climate well suited to growing corn and so it remains today. Fields for growing corn and soybeans dominate the state, as can be seen easily from the air. Students living in urban centers, who were unaware of Illinois’ rural nature, will use satellite imagery to see how dominant agriculture is in Illinois and come to understand just how much we all depend on the state’s number one business.
Students who frequently pass through the countryside in an automobile will learn much about what they have been seeing out the window. No longer will it be possible to drive past a silo, combine, or field of corn without remembering what they learned in IMSA Fusion. These students will enjoy explaining to their parents what is happening in these fertile fields and how all the parts of this complex business fit together to keep us fed.
Recommended Citation
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, Fusion, "Out of the Silo: Agronomic STEM" (2020). Fusion. 5.
https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/fusion/5