…a Metro Early College Learning Experience
Metro Farm
iMix 202 Segment 3 - Metro Farm from WOSU O-H-I-O on Vimeo.
About Growth
- Focuses on the growth of the person, through exploration of Art and growth in nature through independent research projects guided by professionals in the field
- Housed at the Mid-Ohio Food Bank
- High school coursework in Food Systems Analysis, Food Entrepreneurship, and Capstone Research
Growth is an early college experience for students that partners Ohio State University’s Horticulture and Crop Science and English Departments, the Mid-Ohio Food Bank, Economic and Community Development Institute and Metro. This program offers trans-disciplinary project based instruction in all aspects of the food system. Our first high school course is titled Botany. In this class we dissect the food system and work towards students understanding of their place within that system. This is partnered with Horticulture Crop Science 200 offered through Ohio State where they learn interactions of plants and people. The second high school offering is title Entrepreneurship. We have partnered with the Economic and Community Development Institute to provide students with expert instruction in the areas of marketing, business planning, management and logistics, as well as business writing. This course is partnered with English 269 from Ohio State. This is a mass media course, which aids in the students ability to communicate ideas using technology. The final term of this experience is our Capstone Research course. This course’s material has been refined by Metro and is used throughout the curriculum. We guide students through independent research projects with the end goal of producing a scientific poster and document.
Growth has completed over 45 research projects to date, some of which are in process of publication. This course is partnered with a Horticulture and Crop Science Sustainable Vegetable production course. This combination of courses helps give the context for the students self guided experience through the food system and its components.
The food system diagram is borrowed from Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, Cornell University, Food Policy for Developing Countries: The Role of Government in Global, National and Local Food Systems, Lecture 1: The Global Food System and Driving Forces.
College coursework connected to Growth Early College Experiences:
- Fall Trimester
- Botany
- OSU Horticulture Crop Science 200
- Winter Trimester
- Food Entrepeneurship
- OSU Digital Media and Communication 269
- Spring Trimester
- Capstone Research
Internship opportunities:
Franklin Park Conservatory - Students assist exhibit and education staff prepare interpretive materials for FPC’s Chihuly 2009 exhibit. Interns evaluate and synthesize a report on materials from other institutions concerning how they present activities and opportunities for visitors to Chihuly exhibits. Interns make recommendations and help prepare materials to support children and adult learning about glass and the art of Dale Chihuly.
OSU Greenhouse – Interns maintain plants for teaching and research via established and experimental cultural practices; identify pest and disease problems and make recommendations for control; maintain facility equipment through preventative maintenance measures and minor repairs; monitor greenhouse environment; assist with outreach programs; maintain collections database and assist in building collections image library; produce web site content.
U.S. Department of Forestry - Propagation of resistant genotypes of American beech. Different treatments with fungicides and antibacterial agents will be performed to see if they improve grafting success in American beech. Successful grafts will then be used to carry out controlled cross-pollination as part of a breeding program aimed at breeding American beech trees with resistance to beech bark disease.
Waterman’s Dairy Farm – Students gain hands-on experience with the every day operations of a dairy farm. Students work with the farm manager learning how to care for the cows and the facility on a daily basis.
Gentle Meadows Alpaca Farm – Students work with the farm manager to learn about the Alpaca industry. Students use STEM training to design a digital record keeping system and a sustainable website to market Alpacas for sale, Alpacas for breeding and Alpaca fleece products.
Growing America
External Links
Articles on the Web...
The Columbus Dispatch Kitchen
Farm Team
The Columbus Dispatch Video
Farm School
OSU Extension
Food for thought: Ohio State's Student Farm is Growing More than Just Vegetables
Farm World
Student-run Farm and Market Catching on with Ohio School
Information on the Farmers' Market...
http://ourohio.org/magazine/past-issues---2010/july-august-2010/from-seed-to-sale/
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