Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Farming now

40+ minutes

Take Action: Dream up a farm for the future

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune In: Farming now

Preparation

This lesson has been designed as an opportunity for students to synthesise information acquired in this Designing for Food and Farms into the Future unit and to present their own ideas about how a farm of the future could look based on these learnings. It is highly recommended that students complete one or more lessons from this unit before starting this lesson.

Step 1

Invite students to share what they understand the term agriculture to mean.

You can use the following definition to guide their understanding:

“Agriculture is the science, art, or practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock and in varying degrees the preparation and marketing of the resulting products.” (Source)

Remind students that the word ‘art’ features in this definition and refers to creativity and imagination.

Step 2

Now pose the following sentence prompt and create a mind map on the board around student responses:

Farmers have a challenging and important job because…

Suggested prompts for students could include:

Environmental impacts of farming
Growing healthy food for a hungry planet
Farmers supporting themselves.

For example:

Notes:

More information about the environmental impacts of agriculture can be found on the Environmental Impacts of Agriculture fact sheet.
Some facts about agriculture can be found on the Facts About Agriculture sheet.
You may find that some issues - such as climate change - are an issue for farmers because they need to take action to address climate change, but they are also being impacted by climate change.
Spend some time discussing with students how these types of problems don’t just flow one-way; some farming practices cause problems that then need to be addressed by the farmer. Another example is the use of chemical fertilisers. Healthy soils grow healthy plants, but degraded soils don’t, so chemical fertilisers are applied. However, these can cause soils to become even more unhealthy, so more chemical fertilisers may need to be applied. Continuously applying these fertilisers costs farmers time and money.

Take Action: Dream up a farm for the future

Step 1

Explain to students that with a growing population, we need farmers to continue their work of producing food and fibre. However, a growing awareness of the environmental impacts of agriculture also means that we need farms that are designed with the environment in mind.

With this in mind, students will now dream up a farm for their future.

Students will work in groups of 3 to dream up their farms. Assign each member of each group as either a 1, 2 or 3. Explain that each number correlates with a position that students have to take:

People - your job is to think about how each decision or action affects people
Environment - your job is to think about how each decision or action affects the environment
Technology - your job is to think about how each decision or action can be helped by technology.

Step 2

The design brief for this project requires coming up with a response to each of the following criteria (also available on the Student Worksheet). Students will need to discuss each criterion within their groups and should consider how their assigned position would feel about any decisions that are made:

How much land will be devoted to producing food and/or fibre, and how much of the land will be reserved for the natural environment?
What types of crops will be grown, and why have these been chosen? E.g. bush foods or cotton lessons.
What actions can be taken to reduce the impact of the farm on the environment and climate change?
What actions can be taken to look after the soil? E.g. The Role of Soil in Agriculture lesson
What technologies can be used to help farmers and the environment? E.g. Technology and Agriculture lesson
What suggestions exist for how resources could be managed based on learning from traditional cultures? E.g. First Nations’ Fish Traps lesson
Are there any new jobs created on this farm to help the farmer? E.g. technology managers or pollinator patrollers.

Notes:

You could adjust the number of criteria each group needs to focus on based on how many other lessons in this Designing for Food and Farms into the Future unit students have completed, how much time you have or your student's prior knowledge and ability.
Students should be encouraged to undertake further research to support their ideas.

Some important advice for students at this stage includes:
Be brave in sharing your ideas; there’s no such thing as a bad idea.
Don't worry about what's possible: just focus on what you'd like to see.
Listen with respect to other people's ideas and be inspired by other people's ideas.

Step 3

Groups can then start compiling their ideas into a visual design. It would be helpful for them to do some sketches first and to focus on all the parts of their designs and how they work together before they start focusing on the nitty gritty.

Explain that the quality of the drawings is not important; what is essential is that the ideas are clearly represented and students are thinking creatively about how to incorporate all the required elements into their farms.

Step 4

They can then create their first complete rough draft. This should include any annotations and labels that help the viewer understand what the design is including.

Groups should then share their designs with another group for feedback, remembering to be kind, helpful and specific when providing feedback.

Allow students time to incorporate feedback into their designs.

Step 5

Students could then create their dream farms as large drawings or scale models.

You could choose either a scale model or a drawing for all groups; these could then all be compiled together on the floor or wall to create a larger landscape scene with farms alongside each other.

Step 6

Once time is up, compile all the farm designs together on the floor or wall to create a larger landscape scene with farms alongside each other.

Host a circle of celebration and achievements with the class. Not every group may have managed to complete their designs, and other groups may have delivered something that was not exactly what they envisaged. Emphasise that this is often the case for a project and that success is recognising and learning from the process.

Share the skills, attitudes, and capabilities you observed in your students. Discuss the importance and transferability of these qualities with the ability to succeed in life.

Finally, consider providing an opportunity for students to share their designs with an audience, such as another class or by recording a class video that can be shared with families.

Reflection

Each student should work independently to answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What do you think is the best part about the farm you dreamed up?
What do you think could be improved and why?
How successful do you think you were in balancing the needs of the farmer with the needs of the environment? Explain your answer.
What challenges do you think a farmer on your farm might encounter? How could these challenges be addressed?
What kind of impact do you think your technology will have on your farm?
How would your dream farm help make the world a better place?

Design a Sustainable Farm for the Future

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

Lesson guides and printables

Lesson Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Info

Related Professional Learning

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