New Illinois Lessons Tie Students to Soy

Illinois teachers have a new set of lessons at their fingertips to educate students about soybeans.  The “Bean Team” DVD series debuted this fall in the state and is getting an A+ for connecting soybean production and use information with young consumers.

Connie Niemann, Macoupin County ag literacy coordinator, has viewed the DVDs and plans to use them in upcoming school visits.

“The Bean Team lessons are well done and provide good and factual information that is appealing to students and effective in demonstrating the agriculture connection,” Niemann says. “People who live in Illinois see soybean fields all the time.  This is one way for students to understand the crops they see growing are the same crops that provide them food and other items we use every day.”

The Bean Team DVD concept was first introduced by the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) and developed by the United Soybean Board (USB) last year.  The DVD series was not released through Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom until this year so the series could be distributed with lessons designed specifically for Illinois students.

“Our lessons and activities are correlated to the Illinois Learning Standards and Assessment Framework,” says Kevin Daugherty, Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom education manager, Bloomington, Ill.  “Agriculture fits into a real core curriculum, and correlating to the learning standards is an easy way to get into the classroom.  The Illinois lesson plans are very in-depth, and provide both ‘hands-on’ and ‘minds-on’ applications to share what farmers do and how students depend on agriculture in their daily lives.”

Daugherty says teachers appreciate the actual footage of soybean fields, and information about what all goes into soybean production.  The DVDs educate students about soybeans using such cross-curricular topics as civics, English, health, math and science.  Topics include exploring monocots and dicots, agricultural transportation and nutrition.

“Illinois has set the bar on teaching students about agriculture.  This a great example of how agriculture provides application for the concepts educators are already teaching,” Niemann says.  “When I started working in ag literacy 13 years ago, we did not have as many great resources.  Now we have a variety of materials tied to Illinois learning standards.  Efforts of groups like the Illinois Soybean Association make that possible.”

ISA has another education project in the works to replace the popular Soy Island.  “Pod to Plate” will focus on what makes Illinois unique in terms of soybean production, transportation and even aquaculture.  Soy Island has been successful in the classroom in showing everything from soybean production to feed use to biodiesel technology.

“More and more teachers understand the importance of agriculture, and like the idea that we reinforce the concepts they are teaching,” Niemann says.  “Even more rewarding for me are the instances several years after I have been in a classroom when a student approaches to tell me what he or she remembers from our visits.  I enjoy making that connection, and hope the students are carrying that positive agriculture message home.”

*Content Funded by the Soybean Checkoff