Learning In a Context: Farmers As Teachers.

Assignments involving real situations, i.e. real farms and farmers in real landscapes with real problems, are imperative and valuable; students must develop an appreciation for reality, which is “messy” and not always as straightforward as the “book” examples.  Additionally, in real scenarios, students recognize the importance of the socio-economic factors, in addition to the environmental and managerial factors that are involved in agricultural production and decisions, i.e. to develop a holistic perspective of agroecosystems. For students to become independent thinkers and problem solvers, they need the opportunity to integrate their knowledge, not just memorize facts for the test.  In order to make the situation more real, it is valuable if the farmer serves as teacher to help guide learning and not simply a source of information.  The presentation will outline multiple examples of class activities when farmers serve as teachers.