Launch of the pilot program, AgSTEM, is set to take place this fall within the Archer school cluster.
Lawrenceville, GA July 15, 2020: The Gwinnett County Conservation District and Upper Ocmulgee RC&D have partnered with Mercer University to create a new urban agriculture educational program titled, AgSTEM. Through the district’s “Toolbox Grant,” a USDA-NRCS Annual Conservation grant that the district received last year, Gwinnett County Conservation District was able to provide funding to get the program up and running. Tixie Fowler, the District Program Assistant for Gwinnett County Conservation District, established the connections between the district, Mercer University, and other partners to bring life to this program. Although COVID-19 altered the plans slightly, an initial pilot program started this summer with the Archer school cluster within Gwinnett County.
The first step in the program involves the equipping of schools with aquaponics systems which will merge the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) educational standards with agriculture. Aquaponics systems utilize a connected fish tank that provides water and nutrients to feed the growth of vegetable plants suspended in the water itself. Mercer University and their STEM Education Innovations Lab led multiple teacher workshops throughout the summer on utilizing new curriculum and their new aquaponics tanks. Teachers and leadership positions have signed on to the program and are committed to seeing the program expand and grow.
These aquaponics systems provide an engaging method for elementary, middle and high school students to experience cross curriculum learning and broaden their understanding of agriculture. In the long term, students will be able to not only engage with the aquaponics system for just a year or so, but rather will be able to interact with the aquaponics systems in each school they attend in the Archer cluster through the 12th grade. Schools can benefit from bringing this form of agriculture and STEM education into the classroom in a contained environment that is urban friendly and connects students back with agricultural principles.
