Why is it so important to show students the connection between what they are learning in the classroom and the real world?
This Harvard article shares that students are more engaged and interested in a subject if it is clear how the information they are learning is relevant to the world around them.
Creating connections from textbook to the real-world is the mission of Farm Camp Minnesota. When educators, Jayne Bautch and Molli St. Aubin from South Junior High in St. Cloud, MN, asked for a real-world connection to what their 7th grade Science students were learning, we reached out to our partners at Bayer Production in Redwood Falls, MN so that students could learn from the experts.
Farm Camp experiences make real-world connections happen. And this is not only theory-based connections. Here are a few real-world testimonials to show Farm Camp immersive learning experiences really work.
Thank you so much for a great day on the farms! This was the best AG day I’ve attended. The stations were so engaging, and we loved all of the hands-on activities. I was very impressed by how much the kids had learned. In the afternoon, they were able to answer many questions from farmers that they wouldn’t have been able to before the morning at Gilfillan.– Kristin Rossow, Redwood Valley Schools, 5th Grade Ag Day, May 2022
This was the most interactive 5th Grade Ag Day I’ve ever been a part of! All of the kids are so much more engaged. Angela Sandgren, Cedar Mountain Schools, 5th Grade Ag Day, May 2022
“It is so much more impactful when students hear information from someone else.” “I love how [the AgHost] spoke at their level and connected with what we were talking about in class.”
“Our AgHost taught us more than we could have learned from any textbook.”
In Classroom Learning Results in Connecting to the Real World in Agriculture
Another component adding to a student’s curiosity is pairing these Farm Camp tours with in-class learning, such as Applying Heredity Concepts where students will complete monohybrid and dihybrid Punnett squares in preparation for taking on a challenge to breed cotton plants that produce naturally blue colored cotton. In another lesson, Plant Propagation, students will learn about two types of plant propagation – seed planting (sexual) and stem cuttings (asexual) and recognize the genetic differences in these processes, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each method. These are great examples of connecting in-classroom lessons with the real-world through a Farm Camp Experience.
From the Applying Heredity Concepts LessonFrom the Plant Propagation Lesson
The last piece in Farm Camp that also sparks curiosity is giving students the opportunity to explore the many careers in the agriculture sector.
