PIEFA

It's on again!

WORKSHOP SESSION #5

MONDAY, MAY 1 @ 3:56pm

WORKSHOP TITLE: Stitching together cotton fibre and the classroom
HOST:
 Cotton Australia
Jenny Hughes, Education Manager
TARGET AUDIENCE: All educators and Career Advisors from Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
Educators that incorporate the teaching of food and fibre in programs not only help students how to be informed consumers, but also train tomorrow’s farmers, scientists, agronomists, environmental officers, teachers and more.  Growing cotton is relatively new to Australia, and after a couple of decades of applied research, is leading the way globally with its sustainability practices and environmental stewardship. This will be demonstrated with a quick look at the latest data around water and land use, integrated pest management and exports from our newly released and world first Data Dashboard and a short video showing some of the innovations and technology used to grow cotton sustainably.
But how does this translate to the application of hands-on investigations for students?
In this session, the group will participate in a set of short activities for the classroom/garden/ag plot to compliment a unit of work, each focusing on a different aspect of the Australian cotton industry, from introducing the ‘dirt to shirt’ story to hand ginning raw cotton, the Water Game to popping on a Virtual Reality headset to ‘visit’ a cotton farm, investigating ‘soil your undies’ to looking at microfibres and circularity, investigating pest management and the properties of cotton that make it part of our daily lives. Cotton Australia will showcase some of our curriculum linked resources, free sample kits and the opportunities for teacher and student field trips in areas that grow cotton.

 

 

WORKSHOP TITLE: Let’s Meat: Teachers and students pickin’ chicken
HOST:
 Australian Chicken Meat Federation
Mary Wu, CEO 
TARGET AUDIENCE: Secondary teachers, careers advisors, tertiary educators, industry representatives
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
The AgriFutures Chicken Meat Program invests in research, development and extension (RD&E) that improves the sustainability, productivity and viability of the Australian chicken meat industry. The Program guides investment across five priority areas to deliver RD&E outcomes to benefit the industry. While research, innovative technologies, systems and processes are important, people are the critical element in ensuring industry growth. Currently, the number of people taking up a career in the chicken meat industry is not keeping up with demands for employees with a diverse range of technical and practical skills. Industry stakeholders want to take action to ensure the workforce needs of the sector are met, including promoting the industry as an attractive option with rewarding career opportunities. This session will be a fast-paced introduction to the Australian chicken meat industry and the opportunities available to young school leavers! Get to know what resources are available and how you can get your students career ready.

 

 

WORKSHOP TITLE: Using precision livestock management tools in the classroom
HOST: CQUniversity Agri-tech Education and Extension team
A/Prof Amy Cosby
Dr Jaime Manning
TARGET AUDIENCE: Secondary teachers; tertiary educators; industry representatives 
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
The GPS Cows program has been running in NSW Schools since 2018 with hundreds of students and teachers accessing the online module. This workshop will provide an overview of the current program and a demonstration of new devices which allow live tracking of livestock. Teachers will have the opportunity to access live GPS data from animals in QLD and VIC through an online dashboard and learn how this data can be used to improve data driven decision making on both school and commercial farms. The ActiveEwe program which allows students to collect activity data from livestock using accelerometers will launch in 2023 and this workshop will introduce teachers to how it can align with the NSW Stage 4 Technology Mandatory, Stage 5 Agricultural Technology and Stage 5 Mathematics curriculums. Teachers will also hear about the latest precision livestock management research so they can incorporate this into their teaching program.

 

 

WORKSHOP TITLE: Tractor education in schools – keeping our future farmers safe
HOST: 
Dan RytmeisterTAS Advisor, NSW Department of Education
TARGET AUDIENCE: Secondary teachers
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
Tractor safety is not just about what happens at school. As educators we need to ensure that we are modelling and teaching best practice with everything we do. Tractor operation is no different. 
Since 2001, 262 deaths on farm were caused by tractors. Tractors have caused more deaths on farm in Australia than any other piece of equipment. (https://aghealth.sydney.edu.au/ Non-intentional Farm-Related Incidents in Australia, 2022).
Dan Rytmeister is the NSW TAS Advisor. In his role he supports technology education in secondary schools across NSW. He recognised the risks of using tractors with students and has taken on the challenge of protecting our future farmers, having trained over 200 NSW teachers and farm assistants in safe operation of tractors.
In this session you will find out why teaching safe tractor operation is important in schools and the range of transferable strategies implemented in NSW that you could use to ensure you are teaching our future farmers good habits.

 

 

WORKSHOP TITLE: Gathering evidence of learning in practical studies
HOST:
 
Dr Leanne Compton, Curriculum Manager – Design and Technologies, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
Tess Monda, Food Studies teacher, Mentone Grammar Victoria
TARGET AUDIENCE: Primary teachers; Secondary teachers
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
We will explore strategies to use when assessing students in practical studies such as Design and Technologies (Food and fibre production and Food specialisations). We will discuss how students can demonstrate achievement standards through what they say, do, make, write or draw and use examples from teaching content related to food and fibre production and food specialisations to illustrate various ways teachers can collect evidence of student learning.

 

 

WORKSHOP TITLE: Hermidale Future Farmers – Growing our Future 
HOST:
 Hermidale Public School 
Rebekah Coddington, Teacher
Skye Dedman, Teaching Principal

TARGET AUDIENCE: Primary teachers
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
On the far western plains of New South Wales, an inspiring group of young school students are embracing the opportunity to build their farming future by becoming broad acre crop farmers. The Hermidale Future Farmers Growing our Future project is supported by our farming and corporate communities. In its inaugural year we transformed the neighbouring paddock into 85 hectares of golden spitfire wheat with a highly successful harvest in November 2022. Through the innovative solution-based delivery of a contextualised curriculum students have a deeper knowledge of farming practices, working the land in a sustainable manner, and the environmental implications facing the agricultural sector. Our rural and remote students have been growing their future through immersing themselves in Educational, Cultural, and Social experiences within and beyond New South Wales. You will have heard about us through various media outlets including ABC Landline, The Land and the Outback magazine, and we warmly welcome you to come and gain innovative direction on how to implement a successful agricultural project in your local community.

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