CLEVELAND, Ohio — From watching chickens grow to growing soybeans in pots; teachers use many innovative programs to bring agriculture into the classroom in Ohio. 

For many years, Ohio 4-H has used the ChickQuest program to help youth understand the cycle of life. ChickQuest challenges youth to use science, technology, engineering and math skills to investigate the life cycle of an embryonic chicken egg through hands-on activities and educational lessons.

Erica Hitzhusen, an eighth-grade teacher at Worthingway Middle School in Worthington, Ohio, taught her students all about growing soybeans with Soybeans 101, a GrowNextGen e-learning course.

These two programs are just a few that are being used in Ohio. 

Sally Hennessy, a 4-H STEM educator in Lorain County in Ohio, has expanded the ChickQuest programming in local third grade classrooms. In addition to educating youth on the growth and development of chickens, she helps teachers incorporate activities on artificial intelligence (AI) technology into the lesson plans to help youth understand how it can be used to help the ag industry become more efficient.

 “My goal for connecting AI to ChickQuest is to familiarize the classroom teachers and students with AI-based laser weeding machines that are being used in fields,” said Hennessy.

 The machines Hennessy is referring to are ones used by many farmers that use artificial intelligence to scan fields and detect weeds, potentially reducing the need for chemical herbicides to treat those weeds.

 “In third grade most kids are familiar with facial recognition on smart phones,” she said. “The machine learning that phones use for that is easily equated with teaching a farm machine to recognize pictures of different weeds in a field. It’s trained to zap only the weeds, and not the food plants.”

 Hennessy ties these lessons on AI technology into existing ChickQuest curriculum by highlighting the ways in which this technology is used to help grow a chemical-free soybean that could be used to make feed for chickens. The technology ultimately creates more options for farmers.

 “Many Ohioans don’t realize that loads of Ohio-grown soybeans are used to produce chicken feed, and AI technology can be used to assist farmers in growing these crops more efficiently,” Hennessy said. “The feed is then eaten by chickens that produce eggs that contribute to Ohio’s egg industry, helping us become the third-largest producer of grocery store eggs in the country.

 “It’s a big deal that kids learn that the agriculture industry in Ohio is awesome, and new technologies are helping to give farmers and egg producers more options than ever before.”

 ChickQuest is an example of one ag-teaching tool. And there are others, too.

The Ohio Soybean Council sponsors a program called GrowNextGen and provides STEM resources for Ohio teachers to engage and educate their students through the science of agriculture.

 Erica Hitzhusen’s students did not have access to a field or even a greenhouse, so they planted soybeans in one-gallon pots under artificial lights.

 “A lot of my students had no experience with growing anything,” Hitzhusen said. “My students asked many basic questions about soybeans, like how long before they grow, what are the beans used for, why are they so important. It was exciting to see their engagement, wonder, curiosity and enthusiasm. GrowNextGen offers endless resources.”

 Ohio classrooms teach about agriculture through various other programs and initiatives. Organizations like the National Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) and Farm-to-School teach students about the importance of agriculture in the state. Ohio Farm Bureau offers Agriculture in the Classroom to increase agricultural literacy through K-12 education.

 AITC is a national program supported by state-level initiatives to improve agricultural literacy among students and teachers.

 AITC provides educators with resources, including the National Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix to align agricultural content with Common Core Standards. Ohio’s AITC program offers a network of experts and resources to help teachers integrate agriculture into their classrooms.

 The Farm-to-School programs aim to connect students with fresh, local food and educate them about where their food comes from. These programs may include nutrition education in classrooms, farmer visits, and sampling of local produce.

 Ohio has a Farm-to-School program that focuses on enriching connections between communities, fresh food and local food producers.