EDUCATORS EMPOWERING EDUCATORS FOR GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL LITERACY

Project SummaryProject title: Educators Empowering Educators for Global Agricultural LiteracyAFRI Farm Bill Priority Area Focus:Primary: Agricultural Systems and TechnologyNote: The six AFRI Priority Areas will each be featured on each of one of the six days of the Global Agricultural Literacy SummitProject duration: September 1, 2024 through August 31st, 2027 (36 months)Principal Investigator and Project Director: Daniel D. Foster, The Pennsylvania State UniversityCo-Investigator: Melanie Miller Foster, The Pennsylvania State UniversitySubmitting organization: The Pennsylvania State UniversityOther organizations involved in the project: NALocation(s) where the proposed professional development activities will occur: Online and in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the Milton Hershey School.Facilitator to participant ratio: 18 facilitators (teacher teams) per year for each of three project years, making for 54 facilitators of Global Agricultural Literacy professional development programs. We estimate that each teacher facilitator will reach 70 participants.Number of participants per year: 1,256 (18 team leaders and members, 18 mini-grant recipients, 20 literacy project presenters, 1200 possible participants in professional development experiences facilitated by team members, project presenters, etc.)If any international component included: NAProject AbstractThe Global Agricultural Literacy Program is a dynamic professional development program designed to bring together teachers from diverse disciplines into collaborative teams, fostering the exploration of global agriculture's integration into different academic disciplines. Multidisciplinary teams will be empowered to craft and deliver meaningful professional development experiences for their peers focused on global agriculture topics as framed by AFRI Priority areas.The Global Agricultural Literacy Program is guided by the following two objectives:Equip teachers with a comprehensive understanding of the linkages between global agriculture, diverse subject areas, and real-world issues, enabling them to integrate agricultural themes into their curricula, andDevelop a collaborative platform that connects teachers across disciplines, allowing them to exchange insights, share best practices, and collaboratively develop cross-curricular projects targeting global agriculture topics.The Global Agricultural Literacy Program places teachers at the heart of professional development, which research evidences is vital for teacher buy-in and enduring change. This holistic approach will deploy a professional development experience that includes a combination of face-to-face and digital collaboration in order to accommodate the schedules of busy teachers with often inflexible work schedules. The Global Agricultural Literacy Program provides an entry point and broadens access to the discussion of global agriculture to teachers from many different disciplines. The Global Agricultural Literacy Program contributes to the goals of the PDAL program of increasing the number of educators will the knowledge and skills to integrate food and agricultural sciences concepts into their classes.