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Harvest of Fear

Ideas from Teachers

(Gr. 9-12)
I am an agricultural educator for two counties in Illinois. I have access to a greenhouse where I am growing Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) and non-Bt plants. I take young corn plants into a classroom. Students infest the plants with a common insect pest in Illinois (European corn borer). I teach growth of the corn plant, when the plant is suspectible to the European corn borer, diseases that are transmitted with the insect, how the feeding disrupts the plant, and more. This idea could be used with the NOVA/Frontline "Harvest of Fear" program.

I have a bachelor's of science in agronomy and my husband and I farmed for 15 years raising crops and livestock. I am working on a biotechnology curriculum aimed at high school science teachers. I want to make agriculture sound exciting to students, who are also desicionmakers that need to understand where their food is coming from. There are also ethical ramifications for the students to consider.

I would enjoy helping other teachers with ideas and I have contacts in the industry if I don't know the answers. Please contact me by e-mail.

Sent in by
Carol Parrish
Farm Bureau School
Monmouth, IL
aglit2000@hotmail.com

(High School/Early College)
Objective
To promote awareness of GMO's and to look at a topic from several sides.

Materials

• NOVA's "Harvest of Fear" program
• "Harvest of Fear" video question sheet
• "Harvest of Fear" role play character sheets

Procedure
Before the video discuss GMO's as an overview.

Hand out the role play character sheets with 14 different characters that come from the video. (You may need to assign a character to more than one student.)

Each character is given a series of items to look for in the video and an opinion about product labeling and GMO's as a starting point for the post-viewing group role play and discussion.

Hand out the characters to students. Try to match up the personalities a bit (i.e., try to get a vocal person for Greenpeace and Earth Liberation front to ensure a lively discussion afterwards). Meet with each student to explain the basics of their character before the program begins. Good planning and a little time before hand will help to foster an interesting and lively discussion afterward.

Ask students to view the program through the eyes of their character. Have them answer the questions and take notes about the program based on their character.

After the program, encourage discussion amongst the various characters. I have had these discussions go for quite some time "on their own" with me just standing by the side. Your job as facilitator is to get them to talk amongst themselves. Try to keep students in character. Tell them that they can discuss it a little in their "own" voice with their own opinions after the role play.

Assessment
Collect the video sheet questions packet for a grade and make sure they all "said something" during the discussion.

Sent in by
Daniel H Smith
Moorestown High School
Moorestown, NJ