lesson plans jburke 0405

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LESSON PLANS FOR FACTORY FARMING Biology 10 – Sustainability of Ecosystems Lesson – Factory Farms as a sustainable technology Objectives By the end of this lesson the students will have compared the risks and benefits to society, their community, and the environment by the introduction of new technology used in factory farming. (118-1) Students will be expected to defend a decision or judgement and demonstrate that relevant arguments can arise from different perspectives by being involved in a role playing activity – committee to decide whether or not factory farming will be allowed in their community. (118-5) The students will learn the skills needed to select and integrate information from various electronic resources during their research for their group’s role in the committee. (213-7) By the end of this lesson the students will have learned how to analyse the impact that factory farming will have on the ecosystem. (331-6)

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Lesson – Factory Farms as a Sustainable Technology? Context Factory Farming can be introduced into the Biology 10 Unit Sustainability of Ecosystems in a number of different areas. Introducing the topic of paradigm shifts in the students and societies attitudes towards sustainability of the environment and how new technology like factory farming is not part of the idea of sustainability. The students will learn about the factors that affect the sustainability of an ecosystem by looking at how factory farming affects the ecosystem over the short and long term. The students will also learn about the issues concerning how a factory farm will affect the ecosystem of their community.

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Lesson – Factory Farms as a Sustainable Technology? Approach Introduction Have the class form groups of 4 or 5 and ask them to discuss among themselves what they know about factory farming and to write down the main points. Write on the board one or two main ideas from each group. Show the video “The Meatrix” (4 min) Knowledge and Teaching Ask the class what they know about factory farming now. What do they know about the sustainability of the environment? Have each group rewrite their ideas about factory farming and write on the board one or two new ideas from each group. Discuss with the class what they thought factory farming was and what they saw on the video. Ask the students questions such as: Why have factory farms been created? Is the economy one of growth and expansion at any environmental cost? Does factory farming lead to sustainable practices? What problems do you see with factory farming affected the ecosystem? What kind of pollution will be caused? What kind of benefits will this new technology bring to a community?

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Lesson – Factory Farms as a sustainable technology? Demonstration/Modeling Have the class do a Role Playing Activity. Have the class form six or seven groups and each group will represent a member of a committee that was formed to decide whether or not a hog factory farm will be allowed to be built in their community. The members of the committee could be: a local farmer, local business person (grocer?), local banker, representative of a local green group, town engineer, a representative from the Factory Farm Company, a chairperson, and an recorder (these are up to the teacher and the class). Discuss with the class these roles and how the pros and cons must be looked at. Write on the board questions that the students come up with. Lead them to asking questions such as “Who and what will be affected in the short and long term”, etc. Each group will receive internet sites and articles about factory farming, good and bad. Each group will decide (or the teacher if needed) what task each member of the group will be responsible for (researchers, recorders, presenter).

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Lesson – Factory Farms as a Sustainable Technology? Demonstration/Modeling At the end of whatever time the teacher allows (depends on how long the class time is; this may be a week long project or just something to be finished in class) each group will present their argument for or against the Factory Farm be allowed to come into their community. The teacher will make sure the committees stay on topic and each group must hand in a report on their role in the committee. At the end there must be a decision, yes or no to the factor farm. Check for Understanding Bring the class discussion back to the question of sustainability and the paradigm shift. Ask the students questions such as: Has the old world view that the earth and all things on it exist for the sole benefit of humans changed? Has western civilization been created on the premise of unlimited exploitation of the earth? The teacher should write these questions on the board and the students will write them into their journals. The students will write in their journals their answers to these questions at the end of the discussion.

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Lesson – Factory Farms as a Sustainable Technology? Assessment Formative in class discussions and direct questioning role playing activity group report on research for committee journal writing Summative Student project – create a farm that is sustainable, in other words, can exist in harmony with the existing environment. Must include the four main points shown in the video “Meatrix”: no cruelty to animals, no risk of creating antibiotic resistant germ, no pollution, no destruction of existing communities. Student Resources Articles and current issues: www.vegsource.com Current issues on all type of factory farms: www.factoryfarming.com Link in my file to the above sites: factory farming is an attitude can be printed off for students so they can go on the internet at home also (see student handouts) Link to farms as factories pdf file can be printed off for students from www.humanteen.org or www.hsus.org Next year/term I will do this differently by …………

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Biology 11 – Interactions among Living Things Lesson – The Impact Factory Farms Have on the Environment Objectives By the end of this lesson students will have learned to analyse how individuals, society, and the environment are interdependent with scientific and technological endeavours through research for a debate on factory farming. (117) The students will learn to evaluate social issues related to the applications and limitations of science and technology, and explain decisions in terms of advantages and disadvantages for sustainability, considering a variety of perspectives by participating in a class debate. (118) The students will experience the procedures to propose and evaluate courses of action on social issues related to the natural balance of ecosystems when they research the effect factory farms have on the environment. (118-10) The students will be expected to ask questions about observed relationships and plan investigations of questions, ideas, problems and issues during the planning of their approach for the debate. (212) The students will have evaluated relationships that affect the biodiversity and sustainability of life within the biosphere by the end of this lesson through discussions and research on factory farming and its impact on the environment. (318)

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Lesson – The Impact Factory Farms Have on the Environment Context Students will have been introduced to the idea of environmental sustainability in Grade 10 Biology. Now they can move beyond that general idea and look at the interactions of livings things in an ecosystem. The factory farm will be used as the centre of this lesson to show how delicate the balance is in a ecosystem by showing the results of human interactions and overuse of the land.

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Lesson – The Impact Factory Farms Have on the Environment Approach Introduction This lesson would start with a class discussion on the interactions between organisms in an ecosystem and how ecosystems do not exist in isolation from each other. The teacher would use an example of a field surrounded by woods with a stream running through it and ask the students to describe the life there. Using a web diagram on the white board have the students fill in it by asking them questions about the food chain in this ecosystem (by grade 11 biology they should be more than familiar with what producers, consumers, herbivores, and carnivores are). (15 min) Remind the students of the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles that are an intricate part of all ecosystems. Have the students help to draw each on the board and then their Journals. (10 min)

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Lesson – The Impact Factory Farms Have on the Environment Introduction (cont) Now ask the students to imagine a small farm existing in the middle of the field that is surrounding by forest and has a stream running close by. Ask the students what affects this farm with have on the surrounding ecosystem. (also discuss what “small farm” means to them, it might differ from students who live on a farm to students who don’t). Use the white board again to draw another food web but this time introducing the affects that the farm will have on the field, forest, and stream organisms; and the affect it will have on the water and carbon cycles. (15 min) Ask the students what they know about factory farming. Write on the board some of the facts they come up with. (5 min)

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Lesson – The Impact Factory Farms Have on the Environment Knowledge and Teaching Show the short video “Meatrix” (4 min) and ask the students what they know of factory farming now. Have them work in groups to discuss among the group for 10 minutes and then have another class discussion about what a factory farm is and write on the board the main ideas. Refer to the food web, the water and carbon cycles on the board that shows the interruption of the ecosystem by the “small farm”. Ask the students to imagine a factory farm in the same place and what the effects would be on the ecosystem. The students would then form groups and work together and to write down and draw their vision of what a factory farm would do to the field, forest, and stream in terms of the food web, the water cycle, and carbon cycle in their Journals. They will have the other food webs still on the board to refer to. (15 min)

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Lesson – The Impact Factory Farms Have on the Environment Demonstration/Modeling Once the students are finished with their Journals they can stay in groups and start a discussion about the good and bad aspects of a factory farm. Ask questions such as: “Why was the technology of factory farming invented”? “All they all bad”? “What would be good about a factory farm?” Tell the class they are going to have a chance to debate the good and bad aspects of Factory Farming. Split the class in two: one half “for” factory farming and the other half “against” factory farming. Class Debate 1.   Introduce debates by producing the rubric that you will be using to grade them (see student handouts) 5.   Explain that some students might be debating positions opposite to their beliefs. This is an important skill for them to learn. 6.   On the day of the debate, give students in the 'audience' a blank rubric. Explain that it is their job to judge the debate objectively. 7.   Begin the debate with the pro side speaking first. Allow them 5-7 minutes of uninterrupted time to explain their position. Both members must participate equally.

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Lesson – The Impact Factory Farms Have on the Environment Debate (cont) 8.   Repeat step number seven for the con side. 9.   Give both sides about three minutes to confer and prepare for their rebuttal. 10.   Begin the rebuttals with the con side and give them three minutes to speak. Both members must participate equally. 11.   Repeat step number 10 for the pro side. 12. All the students will be graded on the debate; the students taking part and the students filling in the rubrics. For the rest of the class (20 min), for homework and the first half of the next class (40 min) the students will be given resources (electronic and paper) that consist of articles, press releases, what other countries are doing, a debate table and what other provinces are doing, to be able to back up their arguments. The debate will take place the second half of next class (40 min). Two students from each side will volunteer or be chosen to represent their group. The teacher will use the rubric to grade the students in the debate and the audience of students will have rubrics to fill in and pass in for grading also.

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Lesson – The Impact Factory Farms Have on the Environment Check for Understanding Give the students homework questions that highlight their understanding on the interactions of livings things within an ecosystem: “It has been suggested that to make the best use of food on this crowded planet we should all become herbivores. Therefore, instead of eating cattle, pigs, and chickens, we would eat plants that these animals would normally have eaten. Write a short essay (2 pages) about this suggestion in light of your knowledge of how factory farms affect the environment.” Assessment Formative Class discussions and group work about the ecosystem and the interactions of living things brought forth in looking at food webs, and the cycles. Journal writing. The debate The homework assignment. Summative A quiz on the structure and functioning of Ecosystems.

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Lesson – The Impact Factory Farms Have on the Environment Student Resources: below are some internet links, attached are students handout of the internet links: printed articles, news releases, books to read, and a debate table. http://toronto.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=000727farming Commissioner points to factory farming as source of contamination http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-73-1239-6930/politics_economy/pig_industry/clip2 Family farms vs. factory farm http://archives.cbc.ca/400d.asp?id=1-73-1239-6898 Not In Our Back Yard Broadcast Oct. 11, 2000 http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-73-1239-6894/politics_economy/pig_industry/clip5 Quebec opts for better pig farming http://www.cbc.ca/story/news/national/2001/03/07/Consumers/europe_organic010307.html Europe buys into the green revolution http://cbc.ca/news/indepth/madcow/index.html INDEPTH: Mad Cow Disease http://www.beyondfactoryfarming.org/cgi-bin/index.pl - Canadian http://www.canadians.org/display_document.htm?COC_token=coc_token&id=922&isdoc=1&catid=324 The BSE crisis in the beef industry has focused attention on our meat production system like nothing before. The decade-old images of British cows staggering, shaking and falling helplessly still haunt us.

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Biology 12 – Evolution Change and Diversity Lesson: Antibiotic Resistant Micro-organisms Objectives At the end of this lesson students will have learned to explain roles of evidence, theories, and paradigms in the development of evolutionary knowledge through researching factory farming and the connection with antibiotic resistant micro-organisms. (114-2) Students will be expected to learn to identify questions to investigate that arise from practical problems and issues. Antibiotics are given to farm animals to prevent disease but in turn they have created “super-bugs”. Students will be given a chance to investigate how this type of treatment of animals can be avoided. (212-1) The students will be using the library and internet to collect information on evolutionary mechanisms that could explain how antibiotics work on bacteria for a time and then the bacteria changes and now is resistant to the antibiotics. (213-6) During this lesson the students will have a chance to analyse evolutionary mechanisms such as natural selection and biotechnology, and their effects on biodiversity. (316-3) Students will be expected to identify new questions that arise from what they learn about “super-bugs” and factory farms. (214-17)

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Antibiotic Resistant Micro-organisms Context In grade 12 students are expected to learn about evolution, change, and diversity. Learning about antibiotic resistant bacteria ties in very well with this section. It comes after they have learned about genetics so they will be familiar with the language of the research into how bacteria change to be resistant to drugs. Approach Introduction Ask the class to name everything they can about Factory Farming. Write this on the white board as a web or concept map. (5 min) Show the video “Meatrix” (4 min). And have them take notes about the video. Direct the students to note what they didn’t know about Factory Farming. Discuss with the class what more information they have about Factory Farming and have them help to add more to the concept map. (5 min) Have the students form into small cooperative groups. Direct the students to the issue about Antibiotic Resistant Germs (Micro-organisms) and the connection to Factory Farms. Ask them questions such as “What do we mean by germs?” “How are germs passed from animal to animal and animal to humans?” Give the groups a few minutes to discuss this among themselves.

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Antibiotic Resistant Micro-organisms Knowledge and Teaching Jig-Saw Activity: Give each member of the group a part of an article about Antibiotic Resistant Germs (micro-organisms) (there are 7 to choose from in student handouts). Give them 5 or 10 minutes to read their article and take notes. Then have the class form new groups that are made up of the students that have all read the same part of the article (expert groups) and give them 5 or 10 minutes to discuss the article among the group. The students will then go back to their original group and each member will tell (teach) the other members what their part of the article was about. In this way they will be able to have access to the information in all the parts of the article and it will help them to understand what Antibiotic Resistant Micro-organisms are and how they are connected to Factory Farms and the impact these “superbugs” can have on humans.

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Antibiotic Resistant Micro-organisms Demonstration/Modeling Students will write in their Journals a summary of what they have learned about Antibiotic Resistant Germ Micro-organisms and how the occurrence of these “superbugs” can have an impact on humans. Check for Understanding Each group will be assigned a project with a rubric (see student handouts) to do on a topic concerned with “superbugs”. They can choose their own topic or the teacher can suggest some such as: (1) the biological significance of antibiotic, drug, and agrochemical residues in foods, (2) the ethical dilemma resulting from the debate whether or not to use antibiotics on farm animals, (3) is there a connection between BSE and “superbugs”. The students will have two weeks to finish their projects and present them to the class. They will be given extra resources to help them and time in class and on the computers.

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Antibiotic Resistant Micro-organisms Assessment Formative In-class discussions Journal writing Group discussions Jigsaw Activity Summative Project presentations Student Resources http://web2.uwindsor.ca/flipside/vol3/mar00/00mr26b.htm - HIDDEN COSTS OF ANIMAL FACTORIES: ANTIBIOTIC IMMUNITY http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentid=255 - A Prescription for Poultry - Challenging Bayer Corp. to Stop Misusing Antibiotics http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentid=2512 - Turkey Talk: Hold the Antibiotics This Holiday Season! http://actionnetwork.org/alert-description.tcl?alert_id=2002838 - Protect Our Antibiotics and Public Health. Contact the FDA! http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FRO/is_2_133/ai_60129616 - Pigs AND THE FACTORY FARM http://www.celdf.org/cdp/agribus.asp?aId=17 - Factory Farming’s Role in Turning U.S. Over to Corporations http://www.silvergen.com/Antibiotic%20resistance.htm - HIDDEN COSTS OF ANIMAL FACTORIES http://www.animalfreedom.org/english/information/objections.html - Five objections to industrial farming

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RESOURCES Science 10, 11, and 12 Curriculum Guides. Pan-Canadian Common Framework of Science Learning Outcomes K to 12. 1997. Andrews, William A. (1980). Biological Science: An Introductory Study. Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. http://www.factoryfarming.com/ - Factory farming is an attitude that regards animals and the natural world merely ...Hosted by www.vegsource.com, Copyright © 1998 - 2004 by Farm Sanctuary http://www.factoryfarm.org/ - new, articles, pictures, videos, etc GRACE Factory Farm Project works to eliminate factory farming in favour of a sustainable food production system which is healthful and humane, economically ... http://www.themeatrix.com/ - video about factory farming copying the format of the movie “the matrix”, animated. http://www.hfa.org/factory/ - the humane farming association site. http://www.beyondfactoryfarming.org/cgi-bin/index.pl - The Beyond Factory Farming Coalition's mission is to promote livestock production that supports food sovereignty, ecological, human and animal health, as well as sustainability and community viability and informed citizen/consumer choice. (in French also) http://www.hsus.org/farm_animals/factory_farms/ http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=103 http://www.vegsource.com http://www.humanteen.org