ONTARIO — Just in time for the return to school in September, AgScape, in collaboration with Ontario Pork, has launched its latest in-classroom educational resource, a Teacher’s Guide for Grades 5-10.
The 68-page resource, which contains an overview of Pig Farming, three unique lesson plans for Grades 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10, as well as a comprehensive list of relevant and useful resources for educators, is available to Ontario teachers now at https://agscape.ca/resources.
Topics covered include: The History of Pig Farming, Pig Production and Terminology, Pig Farming and the Canadian economy, Human Nutrition and Health, Pig Farming and the Environment and even more topics that will help contribute to students becoming informed food citizens.
Partnering with AgScape, a charity dedicated to bringing Food & Agriculture resources and programs into classrooms, was the natural choice for Ontario Pork.
“While healthy, sustainable food is essential to all of us, the vast majority of Ontarians have little or no direct connection to farming. That disconnect can allow misinformation to take root, and cause people to question the quality and value of food businesses that they don’t fully understand,” said Stacey Ash, Manager of Communications and Consumer Marketing at Ontario Pork.
“Ontario Pork had a great experience working with AgScape. Their knowledge and deep understanding of the Ontario curriculum were invaluable in helping us to translate information about hog farming and pork production in the province into meaningful learning outcomes for students and educators,” Ash also said of the collaboration with the AgScape team.
Taylor Selig, Executive Director of AgScape, agreed with Ontario Pork around the success and importance of this project.
“AgScape is proud to work in partnership with Ontario Pork to bring knowledge of the important work of pork producers and the sector to teachers and students across the province,” said Selig. “A key aspect of our shared missions is to engage and inspire the next generation about the agriculture and food industry so that they can make informed decisions and consider the diverse career opportunities within the sector. This resource will play an important role in bridging that gap within the classroom.”
AgScape is a charitable organization providing objective, fact-based and curriculum-linked resources to Ontario schools on agriculture, food production, environmental sustainability, and related topics. It was created in 1991 with the mission to empower Ontario students with impartial and accurate information to increase awareness of the agri-food system and ignite interest in related careers.
