Green Growing: A Model for Food Sovereignty and Sustainability

• Meaning and importance of food sovereignty through the lens of food justice and sustainability
• Interdependence of the living world through the transfer and conservation of matter and energy, as
  they flow and cycle through nature
• Meaning and importance of using biomimicry in engineering and design, in reference to nutrient cycles, flow systems, water quality, conservation of mass and matter, biosystems, and sustainability

• Where does food come from, why is this important, and why should I care?
• How can we be more energy independent and sustainable in our local food production?

Science (Next Generation Science Standards)

Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems

• LS1-5 Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis transforms light energy into stored chemical energy
• LS1-6 Construct and revise and explanation based on evidence for how carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from 
sugar molecules combine with other elements to form amino acids and/or other large carbon based molecules.
• LS1-7 Use a model to illustrate that cellular respiration is a chemical process whereby the bonds of food 
molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy
• LS2-3 Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for the cycling of matter and flow of energy in aerobic and anaerobic conditions
• LS2-5 Develop a model to illustrate the role of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in the cycling of carbon among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere

Independent Relationships in Ecosystems


• LS2-1 Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support explanations of factors that affect 
carrying capacity of ecosystems at different scales

Human Impacts


• ESS3-4 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural 
systems

Language Arts

Literacy


• RST.9-10.3 Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments or tasks.

Writing

• WHST.9-10.2 Write informative and explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures and experiments, or technical processes.
• WHST.9-10.6 Use technology to produce, publish, and update individual and shared writing projects, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically. 
Nā Honua Mauli Ola (NHMO)

Cultural Pathways

• `Ike `Ōlelo: Language Pathway #11 Utilize Hawaiian language reference materials
• `Ike Ola Pono: Wellness Pathway #4 Make healthy choices in their lifestyle that contributes to the wholeness and well-being of themselves and         others
• `Ike Pikoȳu: Personal Connection Pathway #1 Design and implement projects demonstrating kuleana
• `Ike Na`auao: Intellectual Pathway #15 Share with others as an ongoing process of learning and teaching
• `Ike Hoȳokō: Applied Achievement Pathway #2 Demonstrate the use of aquired knowledge through 
application

Students will be able to synthesize and present information, claims and findings from multiple sources, using diagramming, modeling, graphics, design, technology, writing, revising and public speaking to explain:

• the need for /role of different types of food production systems, food technologies, and growing techniques in human society
• environmental justice and it’s significance in modern and indigenous societies
• food sovereignty and it’s significance in modern and indigenous societies
• sustainbility and it’s significance in food production in modern and indigenous societies
• agriculture and it’s significance in food production in modern and indigenous societies
• aquaculture and it’s significant in food production, in modern and indigenous societies, with specific  attention to Native Hawaiian methods and traditions
• energy independence and it’s significance in food production in modern and indigenous societies
• sustainable food production methods
• the process and need for nutrient cycling, and it’s effect on food production methods and practices
• the significance of staple crops, fruits, vegetables, medicinal and other functional plants (indigenous, modern)

Students will be able to work as a team to design and implement a project that will:

• support the efforts of a local non-proft organization
• demonstrate the principal of “think global / act local”
• provide them with an opportunity to share their work with the larger community
• successfully grow and distribute as much edible food or useful produce as possible using organic aquaponic and natural farming methods
• teach other students and community members about food sovereignty, energy (in)dependence, food technologies, and environmental justice

Learning Plan

Building/Activating the Background

1. Start with a Bioneers Radio broadcast from 2012, Conspiracy of Ancestors: The Indigeniety Essentials. Discuss the speech with the class, focusing on the essential questions, and how they are answered in terms of modern and indigenous societies.

2. Students are assigned four articles to read over a week:

Feeding the World –  an article about the effects of agriculture on the natural environment,

Our Good Earth by Charles C. Mann

“The Nutritional Benefits of Eating Locally”, UH CTHAR publication

Food Security, Food Justice, or Food Sovereignty? By Eric Holt Gimenez

They will answer questions through a Google Form to help assess completion and reading comprehension. Then the students come to class and discuss the articles through the lens of the essential questions, focusing on the purpose, significance and enduring legacy of growing green.

3. The next day, students complete an activity where they solidify their understandings of the significant terms from the readings (food miles, biodiesel, stewardship, sustainability, fair trade, community supported agriculture (CSA), carbon footprint, food system, food production, food justice, food security, food sovereignty, local, fossil fuels, genetically modified organisms (GMO), organic). The words are written on index cards, and then affixed to the backs of students in a random order. Students then go around and ask each other questions to try and identify the word they are wearing. They cannot ask for the word specifically. The clues must support learning the vocabulary. This activity could be done in Hawaiian and English. Finally, they complete an SCR (short constructive response) of their understanding of why it is important to know where your food comes from, using evidence from the articles, conversation and activity.

4. As a homework assignment, students watch the TEDvideos, JaynePointer: Life in Biosphere 2 and Janine Benyus: Biomimicry in Action, and then answer questions to stimulate and guide thinking of biomimicry in engineering and design. The next day in class, students discuss the video and the teacher introduces the quarter project aims, which are the authentic performance tasks. The overall project expectations are briefly described, and the first long-term individual project rubric (seed sprouting/plant diary) is assigned.

Deepening the Understanding

5. Plants. Class will be engaged into the project by sprouting seeds for edible, medicinal, or functional plants to serve as a source of information in learning about the synthesis of chemical compounds from light energy, as well as the process of photosynthesis. During class, students will complete an assessment via a Google Form to help set a baseline for their knowledge on nutrient cycling, photosynthesis, and cellular respiration prior to the unit.

6. For homework students will read from their textbook and watch several lecture videos from iTunesU and Khan Academy Biology about the chemical processes of photosynthesis. (These can also be found on YouTube.) They will complete a reading comprehension assessment on a Google Form before coming to class. During the next few classes, the students work together to draw models and diagrams of the chemical reactions of photosynthesis in large poster-sized format to hang in the class room.

7. As part of the Authentic Performance Task, students will create individual slide shows of photos and explanatory writing of their seed’s journey using the appropriate unit vocabulary and concepts, diagraming the different parts of the seed, seedling, and plant, as well as modeling photosynthesis and the synthesis of complex compounds from carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. This will be done throughout the quarter. The more detailed the better. These will be used in the creation and production of the final group presentations.

8. Students will read from the text book and watch videos from Khan Academy Biologyon iTunesU about the the chemical process of respiration (Video 1, Video 2, Video 3) and how it differs in anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Students will then work together to model and diagram the role that cellular respiration and other biochemical processes play in different aerobic and anaerobic nutrient cycling systems, specifically in aquatic environments, in poster-sized format to be hung in the classroom.

9. Nutrient Cycling Systems. Students will work in groups to research different nutrient cycling systems present in the natural environment (water, carbon, nitrogen), and how these are “mimicked” by human societies (indigenous, modern, different places). They will then present their findings to the class using a pre-formed template provided by the teacher.

10. Students will complete a post-assessment to determine the change in knowledge and/or skills regarding photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and nutrient cycling.

11. Aquaponics. The teacher will introduce the concept of aquaponics to the class using historical examples from indigenous populations, specifically Native Hawaiian methods and techniques. Students will take a learning journey to one of the local fishpond projects (depending on location, scheduling availability and time of year; possible sites on O’ahu include He’eia, Waikaloa, and Loko Ea). The teacher then introduces existing specific-case modern projects going on around Hawai’i and the world (Ho’ala 3rd and 4th grade, CTHAR, local fishponds, Hikianalia Green Growing Project, etc). Students will then work in small groups to research different types of aquaponic and aeroponic grow systems, and decide which types of systems they would like to install in the school Peace Garden. The student-designed systems must be energy independent and sustainable. Students will write an SCR comparing and contrasting modern and indigenous systems.

12. Students will work in groups to start and maintain a circulating aquaponics system with tilapia or shrimp (students can choose) and edible local food, medicinal, or functional plants (the plants sprouted in the first lesson should be used; if this is not possible (i.e., seeds didn’t survive, timing didn’t line up, etc) purchase locally grown plants. The students will use their previous knowledge about nutrient cycling to establish a healthy and safe home for the animals, while trying to maximizing the growth of the food crops. They will use the animals’ and plants’ growth as models to illustrate the chemical processes of photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and nutrient cycling, whereby the bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules are broken and the bonds in new compounds are formed resulting in a net transfer of matter and energy. Students will maintain regular observations of their systems, recording data on plant and fish growth, fruit production, food consumption, sunlight exposure, water quality and chemical levels in their digital lab journal. This will serve as data and content for their final performance tasks.

Applying the Learning

13. As part of the authentic performance task, groups will collaborate to write an academic report of the groups project, using appropriate key terms and concepts. The report must include a detailed step-by- step procedure and a summary of the project experience with regard to the level of food production. The group must also include an explanation based on evidence from the project for how plants use photosynthesis to transfer solar energy into chemical energy, how cellular respiration transfers the chemical energy stored in food into the energy used by organisms, and how carbon, nitrogen and oxygen from molecules combine with other elements to form amino acids and/or other large carbon based molecules. Finally, groups must also include an explanation of the different nutrient cycles present in the aquaponics system, and how they model what is occurring in the natural environment. The report will be published in poster format and shared both in the school science classroom and at a local farmer’s market event in the community. Students will take the formative feedback from peers and teacher during the draft process, as well as their own critical analysis and evaluation, to improve report and resubmit a final draft.

14. For the Authentic Performance Task, students will create a video presentation explaining the development and implementation of their project, as well as the results of the growing strategies they chose, using writing, models, diagrams, tables, photos, videos, and speaking. Students will emphasize the importance of their project in propagating indigenous knowledge and emulating sustainable food production, while also reducing the human impact on natural systems. The video will also include a depiction of their aquaponics system as a model illustrating the role of photosynthesis, cellular respiration, protein synthesis and breakdown in the cycling of elements and compounds among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere and explain how it can help to reduce the impact of commercial food production systems. Finally, they will include a critical analysis of the project and any unexpected events that might have occurred.

15. Students will present their final projects on a website shared through the school domain, explaining how their growing system works, and it’s overall environmental impact, as well as explain why being able to grow food and knowing how to grow food on a more local level is important.

16. Students will complete a self-assessment to evaluate their performance both individually and as part of the larger group. They will also complete a group evaluation to give feedback to the instructor regarding the general challenges, strengths, and functionality of the group.

17. As a class, the students discuss the articles from the beginning of the unit and essential questions again, and how they relate to the possibilities present in new food growing technologies, using aquaponics as an example. Then students work in small groups to create charts or diagrams that illustrate the significance of food miles in terms of food sovereignty, energy use, environmental impact, efficiency, food safety, and animal rights. Individually, students will write an SCR on their own experience of the essential questions, with regard to food sovereignty, energy use, environmental impact, efficiency, food safety, and animal rights.

18. Students will grow food plants and raise fish for themselves, their families, and their community. They will donate a portion of their yield to the crews of Hikianalia and Hokule`a during the Worldwide Voyage.

• Groups will collaborate to write an academic report of the group’s project. The report must include a detailed step-by- step procedure and a summary of the project experience with regard to the level of food production.
•  Students will create a video presentation explaining the development and implementation of their project. Students will emphasize the importance of their project in propagating indigenous knowledge and emulating sustainable food production, while also reducing the human impact on natural systems.
• Students will present their final projects on a website shared through the school domain, explaining how their growing system works, and it’s overall environmental impact, as well as explain why being able to grow food and knowing how to grow food on a more local level is important.
• Students will grow food plants and raise fish for themselves, their families, and their community. They will donate a portion of their yield to the crews of Hikianalia and Hōkūle`a during the Worldwide Voyage.

• Students will share their work with their classmates during instructional time
• Students will share their presentation with the greater school community at a Ho‘ala School Gathering
• Students will share their project through a group-developed video that will be posted on the class website and shared through the school domain

• Student presentations, videos, models, diagrams, and SCR’s