The Primary Industries Education Foundation Australia (PIEFA) has launched a primary connections resource with the Australian Academy of Science.
The aim of the resource is to make inroads into increasing student and teacher understanding of science in the primary industries sector.
Launched by former Governor General and National Soils advocate, Major General Philip Michael Jeffery at Wanniassa Hills Primary School in Canberra on June 30, the unit encourages students to explore how living things are affected by environmental changes farmers might face.
The Rising Salt unit links science with literacy in the classroom.
Through hands-on investigations, students explore how physical conditions of the environment, including types of watering and salinity, affect growth and survival of living things.
With support students plan and conduct an investigation and design solutions to improve agricultural sustainability.
PIEFA chief executive Ben Stockwin said working with and through mainstream educators was the best way to increase community understanding of the primary production sector.
“PIEFA develops resources linked to the school curriculum with a food and fibre focus,” Mr Stockwin said.
“Ours is a long term strategy to have has many of Australia’s 3.5 million students learning about food and fibre production as possible.
“We cannot rely on them to learn this through their family or the media any longer.”
Primary Connections executive director David Kellock said students were encouraged to discover recent innovations in farming practice through practical, hands-on activities that involved examining plant growth and health.
“Our units are all linked to the Australian Curriculum, and Rising Salt is particularly important for the future of the Australian farming industry,” Mr Kellock said.
He said the unit introduced students to the challenges and opportunities faced by primary production systems, and how intended and unintended environmental modifications affected farmers’ ability to use their land sustainably.
The development of Rising Salt was funded and supported by Primary Industries Education Foundation of Australia, and its development was a collaborative effort between PIEFA and Primary Connections.
