Open School BC is currently developing:
Sustainable Resources 12: Agriculture
Coming in August / September 2010
Course Description
When you hear the word agriculture, what comes to mind? Do you think of fields of wheat, or rows of corn growing in the hot summer sun? Or maybe cows being milked at a dairy, or chickens laying eggs in a poultry barn? Well, agriculture is all of these things – and more! Simply put, agriculture is everything involved in growing crops and raising animals for food. Agriculture has been an important human activity for thousands of years. Without agriculture, we couldn’t survive.
In this course students will learn what (and who) is involved in getting food from the field to your plate. And as the course title suggests, they will learn what is involved in making agriculture a sustainable industry, now and in the future.
Course Components
Sustainable Resources 12: Agriculture is divided into four modules. Each module includes student lessons, activities, and formal assignments. Each module also has supplementary articles available in a source file (print) or via links to downloadable pdfs (online). Each module ends with a test. There is no textbook for this course.
The four modules in Sustainable Resources 12: Agriculture are:
What’s in this course?
Sustainable Resources 12: Agriculture consists of the following modules. Modules 1, 2, and 5 are mandatory. Students must also complete Module 3 or Module 4. (Note: Modules 3-5 are revisions and updates of the same modules from our old Agriculture 11 course.) Each module also includes links to supplementary articles, available as downloadable pdfs. In addition, each module ends with a test (two versions are available for each module).
Module 1: An Introduction to Agriculture (available May 2010)
Section 1: Agriculture: Past and Present (history, current stats, ALR, urban-rural planning)
Section 2: Down to Earth (soil basics, erosion and compaction, fertilizers, manure)
Section 3: Other Problems and Solutions (pesticides, integrated pest management, climate change, biotechnology, irrigation)
Module 1 Test
Module 2: Agriculture Today (available June 2010)
Section 1: The Economics of Agriculture (supply management, agricultural subsidies, agri-tourism, farm business management)
Section 2: Changing Times, Changing Tastes (changing food tastes, organic farming, buying local, food safety)
Section 3: Working in Agriculture (careers in agriculture, farm safety)
Module 2 Test
Module 3: Cereal Crops and Forage (available October 2010)
Section 1: Botanical Basics (physiology of plants, classifying plants, plant needs)
Section 2: Pasture (what it is, best mix of grasses etc, pasture management, weeding and feeding)
Section 3: Hay and Silage (making hay, making silage, types of silos, alfalfa)
Section 4: Great Grains (cereals production, how to plant and forage cereals, wheat, rye, barley, oat, corn)
Section 5: Pennies in the Bank (cropping basics—what to grow where/when, crop rotation, other variations)
Module 3 Test
Module 4: Animal Commodities (available October 2010)
Section 1: Breeding and Feeding (breeding, reproduction, pregnancy and birth, feed)
Section 2: Producing Beef (understanding the product, conformation analysis, ranching, confined cattle, disease and prevention)
Section 3: Dairy Farming (milk, the dairy cow, production)
Section 4: Pigs in Production (sows and weaners, intensive growing and finishing, feed, health care)
Section 5: Eggs in Production (care of the laying flock, looking at eggs, handling eggs)
Module 4 Test
Course Resources:
No textbooks or other external resources (e.g., CD’s) are required.
NOTE: Please do not start students over the summer as Modules 3 and 4 won’t be available until late October.
The following components are available for ordering now: Module 1, Module 1 Source File, Module 2 Source File, Tests 1A/B and Tests 2A/B. Module 2 will be available towards the end of June. The remaining components will follow in October.
Please note the print components, except for the Teacher’s Guide, of this course are Print on Demand (POD). Unlike warehoused products, they CANNOT be ordered ahead of time (there is no backorder notice for PODs). Even though all components can be seen on the Shopping Cart, only the above ones, which are available now, can be ordered. (On the Shopping Cart, if there is a N/A in the “Unit Price” column, the product is not ready and cannot be ordered.)
The Teacher’s Guide is a warehoused product, and although it can be ordered now, it is on backorder until all modules are complete. Once you have placed an order for the Teacher’s Guide, you can email Diane St. Jacques (diane.stjacques@gov.bc.ca) for a PDF of Modules 1 and 2.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call Diane St. Jacques (250) 356-1498 for printing issues and Eluned Davies (250) 356-3005 for delivery issues.
Our toll free number is 1-888-883-4766
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