Agricultural literacy. No matter how that term is defined, some, like North Carolina A&T State University sustainable agriculture professor Kathleen Liang, note declining rates of ag literacy, especially on the secondary school level in the context of where food comes from and how food is produced. So from that perspective…
…focusing on helping young people or further develop teachers in the field, whether it is from K to 12, or trade schools or community college in all different ways that we need to further develop these teachers to become competent. It was a skill sets that could help more people young or old. To understand the domain of agriculture in our life.
With the help of a recent $500,000 grant from the US Department of Agriculture and its Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Program, Liang and North Carolina A&T colleagues will develop a curriculum to teach teachers on how ag is connected to our everyday lives. No matter the class or subject matter
Focusing on the K through 12 school teachers plus Community College and the technical center. Instructors create hands on experiential training opportunities to bring teachers across all subjects, not just the ones teaching agricultural related subjects. I want to bring all teachers who are interested in seeing different ways of building our culture. As a base or as the hands on activities in their own curriculum in teaching history, mathematics, economics, full nutrition aspects that there are all different ways that agriculture knowledge and the skill sets could be further developed in the K to 14 level.
While the program is focused on teachers within the state of North Carolina, Liang says emphasis will be on inclusion of teachers from limited resource communities as well as urban areas. She sees subjects, ranging from composting to renewable energy via food waste, be taught as part of this curriculum. Her efforts are one of 60 projects supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture funding to increase the Food and Ag educational workforce.