CALGARY (Staff) – An innovative education kit explaining agricultural biotechnology is planned for unveiling April 1.
Prepared by the Western Agricultural Awareness Council, the multi-media kit will be presented at the council’s annual meeting in Edmonton.
The kit contains material suitable for biology students in Grades 9 and higher and will be distributed to high school teachers, said Betty Gabert, head of the Alberta agriculture-in-the-classroom program.
The council, consisting of agriculture education specialists from the four western provinces, started the project as a co-operative venture two years ago. They share provincial education resources and plan more regional courses in the future.
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The kit has video and audio cassettes, a CD Rom package compatible with IBM and MacIntosh computers and a teacher guide.
Activities include discussion topics for issues in biological technology and experiments that can be done in class.
“It’s a complete teacher partner as well as an independent study guide for high school students in the role of ag biotech,” said Gabert.
Last summer, at Agriculture Canada’s Lethbridge Research Centre, teachers received training from scientists in the biotechnology field.
A video was prepared from those sessions and the teachers who participated are testing the kit in the field. This was part of the annual teachers’ institute offered each year by the agriculture-in-the-classroom initiative to give educators more information about farming.
