Blog

By Brandon Moak, Program Coordinator, U of A Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County

It’s new, it’s exciting and it will teach you how to teach Arizona agriculture in the classroom! Plus, it’s convenient and you’ll be able to earn 45 professional development “seat hours.” The new online professional development course, Incorporating Agriculture in the Classroom, is offered by The University of Arizona and is available to K-12 grade classroom teachers.

“This eye-opening course makes learning more about Arizona agriculture and more about our food and where it comes from, especially locally grown food, interesting and engaging,” says Monica Kilcullen Pastor, Director, University of AZ Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County. “Incorporating Agriculture in the Classroom is a work-at-your-own-pace course designed for K-12 grade classroom teachers to increasing their knowledge about Arizona-grown food and incorporates ways to pass this information on to students through the development of lessons that are aligned to Arizona Academic Standards.”

From 12 lessons on Arizona’s specialty crops, teachers will choose 10 lessons to modify and teach to their students. They will then report on these lessons and discuss them with other teachers taking the course. In the course final, teachers will create their own lesson; teach it to their students, and report the results.

The course costs $200, and upon completion, teachers receive a certificate of completion which indicates 45 professional development “seat hours.” Also, there are a limited amount of funds available to fully reimburse teachers who register by March 26 and are willing to promote the course within their school and district.

Although teachers can continue to enroll in this course at any time, this reimbursement offer is only available for a limited time. Teachers who tested the course said that it is “easier to follow than any other online course that they’ve taken,” and that “the way that it’s sequentially laid out makes it perfectly clear what you’re supposed to do next.”

Registration for this course is now open and available online, then clicking on Incorporating Agriculture Education into Your Classroom. Click here to view an updated course flyer

Please contact Brandon Moak with The University of Arizona with any questions.