An agricultural teacher in Gillett is changing the way she teaches by applying what she learned at a national conference.
“I love finding ways to keep the students engaged,” said Kellie Claflin, Gillett High School ag teacher.
Claflin has been teaching for three years, with her first year split between Suring and Gillett and her last two years in Gillett. In August, she attended a Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education conference in Oregon to learn about the National Council for Agricultural Education’s 2007 goal of implementing a national curriculum for secondary education.
“There isn’t a lot of agricultural curriculum out there,” Claflin explained.
She said she develops all of the curriculum she uses in her ag classes. The CASE project helps to develop agricultural curriculum using science inquiry for class lessons. Activities and projects take the place of textbooks.
Freshman Erin Balthazor said she likes the approach.
“It was basically easy because it was more hands-on,” she said of her small animal and horses class.
The class focuses on learning about companion animals. In the section about dogs, students researched a famous animal to show how animals play an important role in people’s lives. Students also learned about the anatomy of the animals and designed posters of digestive systems.
“I like learning about all the different animals. I’m thinking about going into the veterinary technician program,” senior Jacob Bergman said. “I like to have the fresh set of things with the projects we do. It’s not just repetitive.”
Next semester, Claflin will use CASE curriculum for her large animal and veterinary science classes. She will also use CASE with two independent dairy science students and an independent equine science student.
DuPont Pioneer partnered with the National Association of Agricultural Educators to award grants to teachers implementing CASE and those who needed additional funding for training, equipment, materials and end-of-course assessments. Claflin received a $2,500 grant.
The grant covered two weeks of curricular training, lessons and labs, food and hotel costs.
Travel costs were covered by money the district received last year from a $10,000 Monsanto grant. The Monsanto grant allowed the department to purchase three iPads, lab sensors and equipment, five microscopes and slides, additional science models/tools, and books on inquiry-based learning and science methods.
At the Oregon conference, Claflin had the opportunity to network and share ideas with educators from Idaho, Missouri, Maryland, South Dakota, Washington, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
The curriculum supports core academic subjects by applying science, social studies, English and math in the lesson plans, Claflin said. The applied lessons tie everything together and show students how each area relates to real life.
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