Break New Ground – bESTology 2016 – Week 1

Break New Ground – Week 1

Image: esa.int

Last year “Pay Dirt” embraced if it is not grown then it is mined, “Bet the Farm” embraces the opposite, the living world. We grow the trees used for our desks, the cotton for our clothes and the vegetables we eat.

Evolving from the Fertile Crescent to today’s genetically modified foods and organisms (GMO), the history and advancements of farming and agriculture are immense. bESTology will plant the seeds of knowledge and curiosity that will germinate into a bountiful harvest on BEST Game Day.

Note: Each week of bESTology contains hints of the upcoming game Bet the Farm!

Resources:

• Farming – Wikipedia
• Agriculture – Wikipedia
• Agriculture.com – explore Agriculture publications
• Farms.com – Learn about the world of farming
• Farms of the Future will Run off of Robots and Drones – PBS
• Farming Magazine – New corn hybrids
• Burpee Seed Catalog – never to early to think about planting
• Alabama Cooperative Extension Service
• North Dakota State University Cooperative Extension Service
• Texas A&M Extension Service
• 2015 BEST Consumable Kit
• Evernote2015

 Grainstorming

“You are growing like a weed.” “Cream of the crop.” “Dropped like a hot potato.” Propagate a list of words and phrases that are associated with farming and agriculture. Continue the list over the next 24 hours while listening to family members, news, radio and BEST friends to catch more farming phrases. Share your list with your teammates and decide on the Top 5 most unusual or interesting. Post the Top 5 on the BEST Facebook page.

BEST Farm Journal

Choose a binder or an app such as Evernote to become your BEST Farm Journal. Reflect on the following words and their importance to farming: fertilizer, co-ops, extension service, machinery, barns, fences, herbicides, pesticides, irrigation, cattle, crops and regulations. Write an introduction outlining five areas of farming that you hope to learn about by participating in bESTology and include why you want to learn about them.

BEST Connection

A BEST consumable kit contains items necessary to build a robot. Living on a farm requires items to repair, build and solve problems. Review the elements in the consumable kit list and discuss their possible uses/applications on a farm. Keep in mind: farms come in all shapes, sizes and types. A dairy farm differs from a fish farm or a vineyard. Begin with PVC pipe, twine and duct tape – oh the possibilities. Consider writing your ideas in your BEST Farm Journal.

Community Connection

Thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture we have a fertile resource at our fingertips, the Cooperative Extension Service (CES). Using the internet, find the website for the CES for your state. Explore the CES websites for the neighboring states as well. Compare and contrast these websites and how CES in North Dakota differs from Alabama and Texas based factors such as weather and soil types.

Bringing it closer to home, contact the Cooperative Extension agent for your county and share the BEST 2016 game theme. Invite them to visit your school or plan a field trip to their location. (They will become a valuable resource for future weeks!)

Bloom’s Taxonomy: choose, compare, consider, contact, contrast, decide, differentiate, discuss, explore, find, include, invite, list, listen, outline, plan, post, propagate, reflect, review, state, use, write

Workforce Skills: reading comprehension, active listening, critical thinking, active learning, writing, instruction, science

Download a PDF copy – Week 1: Break New Ground – Click HERE

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