Hands-on learning teaches kids about organic food and farming
Chantel Kaufmann had an ulterior motive when she brought her students from Pilot Butte School to an organic food event at the Saskatchewan Science Centre.
“I’m a cancer survivor and I’ve become interested in what I’m putting into my body and I think it’s really important for the kids to be learning a little about that,” Kaufmann said.
The Grade 7 teacher thought the Planting Seeds to Grow Young Minds event was a great way to teach her students about organic food in a hands-on environment.
“To learn about the production that food goes through from the field to your table is really interesting and I’m not so sure the kids have any grasp of what is done,” she said.
The annual event held by Organic Connections is part of national organic week. It is a daylong event designed to teach middle school students about organic food and farming.
“We have learning stations set up for them to learn various aspects of organic food and organic farming, as well as nutrition,” said Nadine Collison, event co-ordinator with Organic Connections.
Students from Pilot Butte, Vibank and Glen Elm schools descended upon the Science Centre on Friday.
Gideon Coderre, a Grade 7 student from Pilot Butte School, enjoyed the station about bees.
“I learned that if you don’t bug them, that they don’t want to sting you,” he said.
The station was designed to teach students about pollination and how important bees are to the environment.
Coderre’s classmate Trinity Samson, however, enjoyed the brick testing station more. Brick testing is where a device measures the amount of sugar in food.
“I learned that organic food is healthier for you and that it’s better for the body, too,” Samson said.
The event is meant to be a kickoff for a six-week classroom curriculum called Food Miles.
“The curriculum is designed to fit into sort of all the different learning objectives, science and so forth and geography and help them feel more connected to their food. And teach about very basic things like skills that we’ve kind of lost,” Collison said.
Kaufmann plans on teaching the Food Miles curriculum to her class. She believes it is important for her students to learn about their food and where it comes from.
She is a little concerned her students may take the idea of organic food a bit too far.
“I’m nervous they’re all going to go home and demand that their parents start purchasing organic foods, which is a good thing. But we’ve also had the discussion here today that it is a little bit more costly,” she said.