EDUCATOR GUIDE

CONTENTS Introduction ...... 1 Know Your Sources . . . . . 9 Appendix ...... 21 Quick Start ...... 1 Handling Students’ Connections to National Game-Based Learning . . . . 2 Misconceptions ...... 10 Standards and Principles . . . 22 Learning Objectives . . . . . 2 Background Information . . . 10 National Geographic Game Overview ...... 3 Discussion Questions . . . . 16 Resources on and The Top Game Story . . . 3 Activities ...... 17 Related Issues ...... 24 Using the Game in Different Extending the Learning . . . 18 For Further Exploration . . . . 26 Settings ...... 8 Relevant NGSS Science and Credits ...... 26 Role of the Facilitator . . . . . 9 Engineering Practices . . . . 18 Quick Start www.natgeoed.org/ topcrop

most sustainable , one that produces abundant , and at the same time, alleviates environmental impact and preserves natural ecosystems. In figuring out how to tackle the problems that face their farm, students will problem- solve, experiment, collect and analyze data, use new, change, depletion and pollution advanced technologies and Introduction of fresh water resources, loss techniques, manage resources, By 2050, Earth’s human of biodiversity, and soil erosion and make complex decisions. population is estimated to reach and degradation. How can By playing Top Crop, students 9.7 billion people. This increase we produce enough food to will gain important insights into means we will need to feed over meet the needs of our world’s the critical connections among two billion more people than growing population without science, technology, society, we do today. Producing enough overwhelming our planet’s and the natural world. food so everyone on the planet environment? How can we farm has food security — access to sustainably — providing both This Educator’s Guide provides sufficient, safe, and healthy food food security and preserving the subject matter background — is an urgent global challenge, farmlands and the natural and vocabulary needed to and one that has no easy world? use this game with students solutions. in schools, in afterschool Top Crop: Farming for the and informal settings, and at We all depend on and Future is an online and mobile home. The guide also provides farming to produce the food game that puts students right learning objectives, facilitator we eat. But at the same time, in the middle of figuring out tips, discussion ideas, additional modern agriculture is a major solutions to this real-world activities and content resources, 1 NatGeoEd.org contributor to some of Earth’s challenge. Taking on the role and connections to national most intractable environmental of a -scientist, students curriculum standards and problems: global climate must decide how to create the principles. Game-Based Learning

Using interactive games to Problem facilitate learning in educational Indicators

settings has a number of Crops Mute/ recognized benefits. For most Help students, games are highly engaging and motivating. Games provide real-time Active Tech Tree feedback and built-in goals — Solutions such as “leveling up” or reaching a desired conclusion — that can motivate students to improve Glossary their problem-solving skills and build their content knowledge.

The use of portable technology like laptops and tablets in Learning Objectives educational settings is a recent Students will: trend that is expected to grow, and a number of educational • Analyze information to identify problems and possible games, including the Top Crop solutions game, can be played on both desktop computers and tablets. • Make informed and complex decisions that have no single In fact, educational games right answer that can be played on mobile devices like tablets benefit from • Apply a variety of technical and non-technical solutions to the intuitive nature of these a problem devices, which often makes it easier for students to learn and • Recognize the importance of in play these games. This flexibility providing food safety for our world’s growing population allows for game-based learning in schools, in afterschool and • Develop an understanding of how science and technology 2 NatGeoEd.org informal settings, and at home. can contribute to solving critical problems facing society and the natural world Game Overview Top Crop: Farming for the Future is an online and mobile farming simulation game that involves students in current and emerging scientific research, technologies, and techniques that promote sustainable farming. In Top Crop, the player takes on the role of a Have students read farmer-scientist. The overall the instructions goal of the game is to create before they begin the most sustainable farm, play. producing both abundant crops and protecting the natural environment.

The player is given four plots The Game Story of farmland on which to grow Top Crop up to three different food The Department of Agriculture wants to experiment with new crops — wheat, corn, and technologies and methods in sustainable farming, and they’ve soybeans. At the start of the asked you to lead the charge! You’ve been given your own game, only one plot is ready plot of farmland and, as long as you’re able to show promising and available for planting. results, they’ll provide new technology and equipment for you Other plots are unlocked as the and your crew. game progresses. Game play Your work will help our leaders figure out the best way to cycles through four phases: provide healthier food and sustainable farming techniques Planting, Growing, Harvesting, for the planet’s growing population. It will take some and Scoring. The player’s goal experimentation, strategy, and trial and error, but if you is to attain the largest possible succeed, the whole world will benefit from your discoveries. over 10 rounds of gameplay, while simultaneously sustainably managing the farm’s 3 NatGeoEd.org natural resources. Planting crops may seem They are also awarded Tech The Crops simple, but just like on any farm, Points based on the yield and Top Crop farmers can grow up a Top Crop farmer must deal sustainability of their farm. to three different crops on their with serious issues — weeds, Players can use their Tech : insect pests, drought, and poor Points to unlock another plot of soil nutrition — that can affect land; or purchase another crop crops and prevent a successful to grow, or a new technology or Corn harvest. The decisions players farming technique. make to solve the farm’s problems will affect both the Soybeans crop yield and the sustainability Tech Points of the farm. It takes analysis, problem solving, and decision- Wheat making to succeed at Top Crop. Yield

Scoring These three crops were At the end of each round of Sustainability selected because they are gameplay, players receive widely grown globally, and are scores for their crop’s Total Yield key ingredients in many of the and their farm’s Sustainability. foods we eat. They are also found in some non-food items. Corn, soybeans, and wheat are also grown under the same environmental conditions, often on the same farm — which adds to the realism of the problems and decision making in Top Crop.

The Tech Tree Using their Tech Points, players can purchase a variety of tools and The tech tree holds farming techniques from the the tools students Tech Tree to help them solve 4 NatGeoEd.org can purchase with tech points. the problems on their farm. In each round, different tools and techniques become available. Cover Crops: Certain Improved 2: Students can read a description , known as cover Farmers can use of each tool and technique crops, have the natural a technique called and how its use will affect the ability to smother weeds, slow sprinkler irrigation to water their farm. For example, reducing the erosion, and ease damage from crops. This involves pumping chance of drought, preventing drought. Red clover, oats, and water through pipes and spraying weed growth, or attracting barley are all types of cover it onto the plants with sprinklers. wildlife that are beneficial to the crops. farm. : On some Drainage System: A farms, pesky bugs However, some tools and drainage system can are banished with techniques have a higher prevent your fields microbial pesticides. These are sustainability penalty attached from getting waterlogged during pest-repellant concoctions that to them. Players need to use heavy rains. Drainage pumps boast microbials — or super these strategically, decide if the are an example of this type of small life forms such as a fungus immediate benefit is worth the system. or bacteria — as the main longer-term risk, and consider ingredient. which of the available tools Irrigation: A watering and techniques will keep this technique called Improved Pesticides: penalty low, and keep the farm surface irrigation Biologists have figured producing crops sustainably well allows water to flow across a out how to modify a into the future. field on the surface of the soil. ’s DNA — the genetic code Depending on the crop type, that determines characteristics The techniques and tools the water is either flooded onto such as the plant’s color and available in the Tech Tree are: the field or run through plowed size. The scientists can add in furrows between rows of plants. a gene (a section of DNA) that : allows the plant to produce a Farmers sometimes Improved Irrigation: pest-repellant substance, also swap their crops. They Some farms feature a called a Plant- Incorporated- plant different kinds of crops network of pipes that Protectant. each season, a technique called run along the rows of crops. crop rotation. This method adds The pipes drip water onto the Improved Pesticides 2: nutrients and nitrogen — a roots of the plants. This watering Biomedical pesticides chemical that helps plants grow method is called drip irrigation. are natural substances 5 NatGeoEd.org — to the soil. Crop rotation also that protect plants from pests. helps get rid of insects and For instance, scented plant diseases that can destroy crops. extracts can be used as biomedical pesticides. Farmers shields plants from harmful fields and into rivers and lakes, place the extracts in traps away fungi. Treating the plant so early disturbing the environment. from the actual crops. Insects are on may prevent the need to lured by the scent into the traps, spray it later in its growth cycle. Improved : where they become stuck — and Macronutrient fertilizer unable to harm crops. No-till Farming: packs in as many No-till farming is a nutrients for plants as possible, : Herbicides sustainable agricultural such as nitrogen, phosphorus, are chemicals used technique that doesn’t involve and potassium. to control growth of disturbing the ground through unwanted plants on your farm. tillage — the digging or stirring Improved Fertilizer 2: of soil. Micronutrient fertilizer is Improved Herbicides: a fertilizer that contains Contact herbicides Conventional essential micronutrients (such are used to control the Plowing: Conventional as boron, chlorine, or iron) but growth of unwanted plants. This plowing involves not a significant amount of only affects parts of using equipment to turn over macronutrients such as nitrogen, the plant it touches directly. So if the upper layer of the soil. This phosphorus, or calcium. a leafy plant is sprayed with the buries weeds and the remains herbicide, it will wither but the of previous crops and warms the Crop Scouts: High- roots will remain. soil for planting. tech tools such as hand-held computers Improved Herbicides 2: Strip Tillage: Strip-till and GPS tracking systems Systemic herbicides are is a farming system make it easier for farm workers substances that control that uses minimum to monitor the land. Using the the growth of unwanted plants tillage, or the digging or stirring technology to record locations such as weeds. A plant sprayed of soil. With this method, digging affected by harmful pests or with this herbicide first absorbs only occurs in the portions of diseases allows the workers to the substance through its leaves soil that will contain rows of target problem areas quickly or stem. The substance then plant seeds. and efficiently. For instance, by travels throughout the plant’s recording the exact location of insides, killing it completely. Fertilizer: By using an insect infestation, farmers , you can can spray that specific spot Seed Treatment — grow more plants for rather than blanketing a field with 6 NatGeoEd.org : Your seeds higher yields. However, rain pesticides. have been treated with can wash fertilizer out of the a fungicide, a substance that Drones: Unmanned GPS Precision a place to thrive. And if the flying machines called Tools: GPS animals have their own living drones will buzz technology provides space and food supply, they around your fields, searching for measurements for things such may have less reason to visit problem areas. Seeing a crop as water levels and nitrogen in your farm to feed on your crops. from above can reveal irrigation the soil. This makes planting problems or pest infestations seeds as well as distributing Application Treatment that may not be obvious on the water, fertilizer, and pesticides — Insecticides: ground. more efficient. Improved machinery allows insecticides to be Infrared Satellite Electric Vehicles: added to the area immediately Images: Farmers can Using an electric surrounding seeds as they monitor the health vehicle can help are planted. This lets farmers of their crops with infrared reduce your impact on the protect crops from insects in the satellite images, which detect environment. earliest stages of their growth, levels of chemicals in plants while reducing the quantity of invisible to the naked eye. For Wildlife Refuge: chemicals used. This measured instance, healthy plants filled Preserving the land approach reduces unneeded with chloroform (a chemical surrounding your treatments. plants need to thrive) appear farm gives animals in the area as a different color in infrared images than plants that lack this important ingredient.

Bird Boxes: Installing birdhouses is an inexpensive and efficient method for naturally reducing harmful insects. Including perches for birds of prey such as hawks helps keep the population of larger pests, like mice and rats, under control. Have students read descriptions of tech 7 NatGeoEd.org tools to understand their effect on crop yield and sustainability. Electricity Classrooms engagement students generally Generation: Teachers can incorporate the experience with gaming to Install windmills, Top Crop game into a variety involve students in additional waterwheels, or solar panels to of science, social studies, and discussion and activities. Issues generate power for your electric geography curriculum units. raised in Top Crop can be farm equipment. This will reduce Additionally, the game can be catalysts for further classroom your impact on the environment used as a hook to develop discussion and debate; or as well as energy costs. multidisciplinary lessons that provide jumping off points for bring together several different student projects that involve Using the Game in curriculum areas. Examples of research and written or oral curriculum topics where Top presentations. The Extending Different Settings Crop can be used include: the Learning section provides ideas and resources for further Afterschool Programs • Global climate change activities. Because learning opportunities • Ecology and the environment are embedded in the game, • Food and nutrition Science Centers students can play the game • Science, technology, society, Science centers can make independently, either individually and the natural world the Top Crop game available or in small groups. Facilitators • Human population growth to visitors through computer can check in with students and and the environment stations on the science center use questions to encourage • Human impact on our planet floor. Play can be supported in thoughtful play. For a richer • Cultural behavior and its this setting through display text experience, facilitators can impact on the environment and related exhibits. Science use the discussion questions centers can also use the game and related resources and A major goal of Top Crop is to as part of informal educational activities described in this engage students in problem programs for students and guide to engage small or large solving and informed decision- families. groups of students. The game’s making. Asking questions and built-in scoring can be used to guiding discussions before, At Home encourage friendly competition during, and after gameplay Students can play the Top among groups of players and can reinforce critical thinking, Crop game independently at can add another element of fun problem solving, and decision- home. Parents or caregivers and challenge to the game in making. can play the role of facilitator, this setting. using questions, and guiding 8 NatGeoEd.org Teachers can also take discussions to encourage more advantage of the level of thoughtful problem solving and decision-making. Role of the solving. Asking questions Facilitating Discussion and Facilitator can target or expand student Engagement with the Content thinking on possible ways to The Top Crop game offers a Managing Game Play solve the problems their farm variety of learning opportunities Students play the game at their is facing. There is no one right in the context of game play. own pace. Therefore, students solution to the problems facing who begin the game at the Top Crop farms. Designed to Facilitators can encourage the same time may complete the encourage experimentation deepest level of engagement gameplay rounds at different and solutions that will result in with the content by starting the times. Facilitators should both a high crop yield and high session with an introductory walk around the room and sustainability score, Top Crop is discussion that sets up the monitor student engagement in highly re-playable. context of the game, provides thoughtful analysis and problem background information, and handles any misconceptions students may have. Sample Know Your Sources discussion questions are provided in this guide. During gameplay, facilitators can There is a wealth of information available at our fingertips, and challenge students to read and sometimes it is difficult to sort through it all. Topics surrounding ask questions about all the farming, agriculture, food, food security, global climate change, available information provided and the environment are particularly popular, and information in the game. Facilitators can can be contradictory. Here are three tips to help make sure the also encourage more thoughtful information you use on these topics is valid: decision-making by posing questions for students to 1. Look at the source. Who published the information? If it is discuss and explore as they play an individual, what are his or her qualifications? If it is an the game. organization, what is their mission or goal? Do they have a bias? 2. Look at the date. How old is this information? Is more current information available? 3. Look for more sources. Are there other sources to confirm this information? Look for government or university studies to 9 NatGeoEd.org back up your sources. Handling important to understand that these debates can be highly Students’ opinionated or polarizing, and Misconceptions careful selection of resources is advised. Students — especially those 1. Plant from urban and suburban The Background Information communities — may have section will assist facilitators in little or no knowledge about guiding students through the modern farming or where the content and issues presented food they eat actually comes in the game. The Extending the from. They may not be aware Learning section lists additional of the importance of agriculture resources and activities that can in our world. Many students be used with the Top Crop 2. Grow will base their understanding game. of agriculture on depictions of farms and farming in books, media, television, films, and Background games. Many students may not Information understand that farming today takes place in cities as well Overview of Modern Farming as rural areas; and that urban Farming exists in almost 3. Harvest farming is critically important in every region of the globe from providing food security to many very cold areas such as Iceland communities worldwide. The Top and Greenland, to tropical ways of farming has specific Crop game also emphasizes rainforests and dry desert challenges and constraints the critical role of science areas. Farms and farming that affect the type and amount and technology in agriculture, methods vary widely from small of crops produced. Different another concept that may be subsistence farms, to large- farming methods also have very new to students. scale mechanized agriculture, different impacts on the natural to high tech and environment, including global Beyond general misconceptions . Although we climate change. about modern agriculture, topics often think of farms in rural such as organic agriculture, the settings, is Botanists estimate that there 10 NatGeoEd.org genetic modification of seeds, widespread and expanding in are over 400,000 plant species. and urban agriculture remain cities around the world. Each But the majority of the world’s objects of heated debates. It is of these different places and daily nutrition comes from only 15 different crops. These crops account for approximately 90% of the global caloric intake, excluding meat, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Corn, rice, and wheat are the most widely grown crops in the world. Other important staple food crops are potatoes, cassava, soybeans, barley, sweet potatoes, sorghum, and yams. Refer students to the appropriate key vocabulary terms. Science and technology have always been integral to farming. Research into Agriculture is a complex and Local and Global Farming new technologies and new dynamic endeavor. Around the Connections methods of farming are critical world, farmers are continually A farmer’s decision to grow to solving the problems of food adapting and responding to: certain crops involves a wide security, and the need to create array of factors. The geographic sustainable farming. • Community food preferences location of the farm and its and the need for food environment, soil types and security nutrition, growing season • Local and global markets for temperatures, and timing and food crops amount of water availability, • Global climate change affect both the type of crops • The availability of new that can be grown and when technologies and techniques these crops can be grown. For emerging from agricultural example, in areas of cold winter research temperatures, farmers typically • Increased awareness of the plant, grow, and harvest need to farm sustainably crops on a spring-summer-fall and preserve farmlands and schedule. In the tropics, crops the natural world for future can be grown all year round in 11 NatGeoEd.org generations some areas, or farming is limited by the cycle of rainy or dry seasons. The use of technologies, such by individual farmers about what Agriculture is global, connecting as irrigation, greenhouses, crops to plant. In developing countries around the world. and hydroponics, alters the countries, widespread, small- Countries depend on each geographic and environmental scale urban farms grow other for the food they need. constraints faced by farmers. everything from vegetables and For example, cassava is an Irrigation has expanded farming fruit to , poultry, and important food staple for many to dry lands and deserts that fish. These very small farms communities, particularly in would not naturally support provide the urban farming family tropical regions. In many tropical it. Greenhouses provide with income, and are critical areas, cassava is both grown year-round food production sources of food for the local and eaten locally. But cassava in cold climates. Hydroponic community. is also a major export crop for technologies allow food crops to farmers in Nigeria, Thailand, be grown without soil. Continued In developed countries, urban Costa Rica, Vietnam, and research has the potential to agriculture is expanding Indonesia. Cassava from farms considerably impact how and dramatically because of the in these countries is sold to where we can grow food. consumer preference for fresh consumers around the world. foods that are grown locally, with Local food needs and less environmental impact. In Agriculture is dynamic. Demand preferences are also important most large cities today there are for certain food crops in one considerations for many farmers. numerous farms that range from part of the world can change Different communities around small plots of land to high tech farming practices in other parts the world have very different greenhouses that produce crops of the globe. Take the case of food needs and value different that are sold locally to stores, soybeans; soybeans are grown food crops. In addition to restaurants, and consumers. for both human consumption, considerations of the food needs of their families and community, farmers also consider the prices they can get for certain crops. A crop that is worth more means more income to the farming family.

Examples from urban agriculture — farming in cities 12 NatGeoEd.org — demonstrate how local food security and food preferences can shape the decisions made and for processing into animal feed. China has a tremendous need for protein-rich foods, such as meat, fish, and eggs. But China does not produce enough soybeans to meet the needs of its livestock, poultry, and fish farms. Huge quantities of soybeans are imported by China then used, in the form of animal feed, by farmers to raise animals for food. In response to this new market for soybeans, many farmers around the world changed the crops they grow. For example, in the United States, farmers increased their soybean production and now raise less wheat. Farmers in Brazil turned areas of forest and savannah into soybean farms.

Global Climate Change and Agriculture – Mitigation and Adaption Is farming always

ecologically friendly? Remind students that Unfortunately farming is advances in science and technology not very green. Agriculture continue to influence is one of the major sustainable agriculture. Agriculture is the major source contributors to global of methane, which is released

climate change. Common oxide (N2O). Carbon dioxide is through the farming practices release three released when forests are cut of animals for food, and by the of the five major down or land is burned to create artificial wetlands created when 13 NatGeoEd.org gases that cause climate croplands. The use of fertilizers rice is grown. Even the common

change — carbon dioxide (CO2), also releases nitrous oxide. practices of conventional

methane (CH4), and nitrous plowing or mechanical tilling, which are used by farmers pests and diseases; and water where certain crops can be to prepare fields for planting, availability. Farmers need to grown. However, many food release significant amounts of find ways to adapt to a range crops will do very poorly as nitrous oxide by burying crop of new conditions — increased temperatures rise. As a result, residues and weeds under temperatures, changes in rainfall farmers will need to change the soil. patterns, flooding, droughts, what crops they grow. more extreme weather events, Many individual farmers sea level rise, and increased With warming temperatures recognize these problems and atmospheric carbon dioxide. agricultural pests can expand are working to mitigate their For example, sea level rise their ranges and cause damage role in global climate change. is bringing salt water further to crops grown in areas that They are reducing their farm’s inland. This increased salinity were previously unaffected by greenhouse gas emissions is causing problems for coastal these pests. Plant diseases by modifying the way they rice growers in Vietnam and may also thrive in warmer farm. For example, fields can other Asian countries. conditions. Changes in rainfall be planted without tilling and patterns affect the timing, disturbing the soil. Using a no-till Rising global temperatures frequency, and amount of rain. technique substantially reduces can expand farming to areas Some farming regions will see nitrous oxide emissions, and that today are not suitable for more, and longer, periods of has the benefits of preventing agriculture; it could also expand drought; other areas will receive soil erosion and conserving soil moisture. Precision use of fertilizer and rotating certain crops, such as corn and soybeans, also reduces nitrous oxide emissions.

Farmers in many regions are already seeing the effects of global climate change and these effects are mostly negative. Global climate change will affect all aspects of farming:

where we can farm; The alerts inform 14 NatGeoEd.org what crops can be students about the problems facing their grown; crop yields; the farm. impact of agricultural excessive rainfall or rain at the Modern genetics and not been accepted because wrong times during the growing other critical scientific and of environmental concerns, season. technological developments led although some countries are to the of the now beginning to plant GM Global climate change seriously last century, which transformed crops. impacts our ability to grow agriculture in many countries the food we need to provide and had a profound effect on the Changes in crop plants are not food security. Current and global food supply. For example, the only way in which science future farmers need to reduce new varieties of wheat and rice and technology contribute greenhouse gases emissions were developed that produced to agriculture. Working in and adapt to the changing more grain per acre than older collaboration, farmers, conditions caused by global varieties. This breakthrough researchers at universities, climate change. alone helped alleviate hunger government agencies, and for billions of people. corporations have developed Science, Technology, and new technologies and adapted Farming More recently, plant geneticists older methods to make To feed nine billion people in the have developed genetically agriculture both more productive year 2050 we need to increase modified (GM) seeds. Starting and sustainable. The Top Crop the amount of crops we grow by in the 1990s, farmers began game introduces some of these between 70 and 100 percent. growing crops from GM seeds new technologies and methods At the same time, we must that were more drought-tolerant including: decrease agriculture’s impact on and resistant to agricultural global climate change and the pests and diseases. Such crops • Improved irrigation natural world. need less water and pesticides. technologies that use less In the United States as well water From the very beginning of as in Asia and Latin America, • No-till cultivation farming, science and technology GM crops are widely grown. • GPS monitoring systems have always been essential In many countries in Europe • Infrared satellite systems to to agriculture. Farmers have and Africa, GM crops have monitor plant health used irrigation for thousands of years to bring water to thirsty crops. For millennia, people bred crop plants to have specific beneficial traits and increased 15 NatGeoEd.org yields, long before there was an understanding of genetics. Discussion Questions Questioning strategies applied during game play, as well as discussion and reflection questions following game play sessions, can greatly enhance student engagement and learning.

DURING PLAY AFTER PLAY • What problems (drought, • What is your Total Yield weeds, insects, and soil score? What is the nutrient depletion) are facing Sustainability score of your your farm? farm? • Which problem(s) are the • Will your farm be able to most important ones for you contribute to the world’s food to solve on your farm right safety? Do you think your now? Why? farm is sustainable into the • What are your available future? options? • What were your most • What are some pros and important decisions? How cons of each choice? did they affect your farm? • How will your choice affect • Do you feel you successfully the yield of your crop? solved your farm’s problems • What are some during this session? Why or environmental and why not? sustainability consequences • What would you most like to of this choice? improve on your farm? Why? • What are some alternatives • Did any of the technologies to your choice? that you used in the game today surprise you? Why?

16 NatGeoEd.org Activities mind, have students read lists of for students to discuss their ingredients on a variety of foods results and share strategies (and non-foods) to see where to improve both crop yield and BEFORE INITIAL PLAY corn, wheat, and soybeans are sustainability. used as ingredients. What was Activate students’ prior the most common crop used as Use the information in the knowledge, and unearth an ingredient in the foods they Game Overview section of this misconceptions, by asking them looked at? In non-foods? What guide to introduce the game. to share what they know about was the most unusual use of food, farms, and agriculture. corn, soybeans, and wheat as DURING PLAY Sample questions to prompt an ingredient? discussion include: Provide additional support Have students set up their to students on the use of • Where does the food we eat “lab notebooks” to use different technologies in really come from? during the gameplay. Just like agriculture. Watch Precision in • Where do you find farms? scientists (and most farmers) the Fields (https:// Can a farm be in a city? do in real life, as they play Top www.nationalgeographic.org/ • Has anyone ever visited Crop, students can document video/precision-in-the-fields/), a a farm? What was that what crops they grew, the short animated explanation of experience like? problems they encountered, the the technologies used by • Does anyone know of any pros and cons of the tools and farmers to increase yield and farms in our community? techniques available to solve reduce production costs. What crops do they grow? the problem, what decision Technologies discussed in the they made and why, and what animation include drones, Have students research the happened. Note taking will remote sensing, mobile weather food crops grown in Top Crop reinforce the problem solving apps, variable rate dispensation — corn, soybeans, and wheat. and decision-making in game; of fertilizers and pesticides, and Keeping food sensitivities in and provide opportunities soil maps, among others. Or have students read the article “Precision Farming” (http:// earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ Features/PrecisionFarming/).

Hold mini-strategy sessions 17 NatGeoEd.org on the problems they are facing on their farms and the Extending the of activities, lesson plans, decisions they need to make. interactives, videos, articles, Learning profiles of researchers, and Some strategies to help Extending the learning in the other content resources to students with Top Crop Top Crop game can take a extend the learning of the Top decision-making include: number of directions. Students Crop game (see Appendix). can further explore the impact • Identifying the problem(s) of agriculture on global climate Decision-Making Activities with their farm change, urban agriculture, The issues raised in Top Crop • Understanding their options. food and global food security, create excellent opportunities What tools and techniques and agriculture and the natural for additional decision-making are available to them? How environment, including pollution, activities that integrate science will each improve crop yield soils, and water resources. and other curriculum content. and/or sustainability? Educators can also bring In particular, these decision- • Identifying the benefits and agriculture and farming directly making activities can support a drawbacks of each of their into their classrooms or other number of the Next Generation choices learning environments. The Science Standards: Science • Encourage students to write National Geographic Education and Engineering Practices (see down their choices and why website has a wide variety Sidebar). they made these choices in their notebooks

AFTER PLAY Relevant NGSS Science and

After each session of game Engineering Practices play, discuss the session as a whole group. Use the sample • Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for discussion questions as a engineering) starting point. • Constructing explanations (for science) and designing At the end of the game, did solutions (for engineering) students feel they met the challenges of increasing both Engaging in argument from evidence crop yield and sustainability? • 18 NatGeoEd.org Why or why not? What Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information strategies did they find most • successful? Decision-making activities • Design a solution to Vertical Farming involve students in asking increase global food Caleb Harper, a researcher at questions, defining issues, security and improve the MIT’s Media Lab, and a National finding and evaluating evidence, sustainability of agriculture. Geographic Emerging Explorer, constructing an argument Why do you think your idea is an Urban Agriculturist. Caleb’s backed by evidence, and will be effective in solving goal is to design innovative communicating. Some ideas these major problems? technologies that will bring for decision-making activities Explain why. Provide at least farming into cities. Urban include: three supporting reasons agriculture is already important, based on evidence or facts. but Caleb’s ideas take it well • Pick a viewpoint and find beyond anything that exists evidence to support it. The Future of Farming: today. Adapting aeroponics, a Many people believe that Promising Innovations form of irrigation first developed is the best This a critical time for farming, by NASA for the Mir space solution to creating more and but also a very exciting one. station, Caleb envisions vertical sustainable agriculture; Scientists, including several urban farms, many stories tall. others don’t think that organic National Geographic Explorers, All environmental conditions, farming is sustainable or can are doing research that could from light to nutrients, would be provide the food security the change farming as we know it. closely monitored and controlled world’s growing population Their stories demonstrate some by computers and optimized needs. of the promising innovations for plant growth. Students can that might be the future of read more about Caleb’s work at • Pick a viewpoint and find farming. Have students read http://www.nationalgeographic. evidence to support it. their stories. What are the pros com/explorers/bios/2015/caleb- Genetically modified (GM) and cons of each innovation in harper/. crops are increasingly terms of growing more food and grown around the world. sustainability? Many people believe they are an important way of increasing both crop yield and improving sustainability. Others think that the potential risks of GM crops outweigh the possible 19 NatGeoEd.org benefits. Perennial Crop Plants about a dollar a day, these very Jerry Glover is an Agroecologist poor farmers rely on rainfall to and Soil Scientist and a provide water for their crops. National Geographic Emerging No rain means hunger for their Explorer. Most crop plants are families and their communities. annual plants, which require Jennifer is working with the replanting from seeds every NGO Solar Electric Light Fund year. These annual plants to bring solar-powered drip typically have shallow roots irrigation systems to these and require more water and farms. Combined with solar- fertilizers than perennial plants. powered water pumps, these Perennial plants have other systems require no fuel, are beneficial traits that would simple to use, provide water to make them ideal crop plants. both crops and the community. They do not need replanting, Students can read more about have deep roots that hold Jennifer’s work at http://www. soils, and hinder weed growth. nationalgeographic.com/ Jerry is collaborating with explorers/bios/jennifer-burney/. other researchers to breed perennial varieties of the common crop plants, wheat, rice, and sorghum. Students can read more about Jerry’s work at http://education. nationalgeographic.com/news/ real-world-geography-dr-jerry- glover/.

Solar Irrigation for Subsistence Farmers Jennifer Burney is an Environmental Scientist and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer who works with 20 NatGeoEd.org small-scale subsistence Have students compare final score cards and farmers in sub-Saharan discuss results. Africa. Living on incomes of Irrigation: Watering land, Sustainability: Use of Appendix usually for agriculture, by resources in such a manner that artificial means they will never be exhausted Vocabulary Nutrient: The substance an Sustainability (Alternate Agriculture: The art and organism needs for energy, Definition): Use and science of cultivating the land growth, and life; nitrogen, management of resources to for growing crops or raising phosphorus, and potassium are continually support human and livestock particularly important nutrients natural systems and reduce needed for healthy plants impact on the environment Drought: A period of greatly reduced precipitation : A natural or Sustainable Agriculture: manufactured substance used Processes for growing crops and Fertilizer: Nutrient-rich to kill organisms that threaten raising livestock that makes the chemical substance (natural agriculture; types of pesticides most efficient use of resources; or manmade) applied to soil to include (which kill sustainable agriculture aims to encourage plant growth harmful fungi), insecticides cultivate the land so it may be (which kill harmful insects), used by future generations Food Security: The access a herbicides (which kill harmful person, family, or community plants), and rodenticides (which Till: To prepare the land for has to healthy foods kill harmful rodents) the planting and cultivation of crops. Intensive soil tillage Global Positioning System Runoff: Water from precipitation may increase soil erosion, (GPS): A system of satellites that flows from land into streams nutrient runoff, and the and receiving devices used and is not absorbed. Runoff release of greenhouse gases. to determine the location of from a farm or industrial factory Conservation tillage techniques something on Earth often contains natural or artificial such as no-till or strip-till can chemicals reduce those effects and help Herbicide: Natural or retain moisture manufactured substance used Soil Health: The ability of soil to kill plants to host an ecosystem (or a Urban Agriculture: The community of living things) that process of growing, harvesting, : sustains plants, animals, and processing, and distributing food Modern farming methods that humans in a city or town 21 NatGeoEd.org include mechanical, chemical, engineering, and technological methods on a large scale Connections to National Standards and Principles Top Crop and the Extending the Learning activities can be used as part of curriculum units in support of the following National Standards and Principles:

Next Generation Science MS-ESS3 Earth and Human Standards Activity

MS-LS2 Ecosystems: MS-ESS3-3 Common Core State Interactions, Energy, and Apply scientific principles to Standards: ELA/Literacy Dynamics design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact RST.6-8.1 Cite specific textual MS-LS2-1 on the environment. evidence to support analysis of Analyze and interpret data to science and technical texts. provide evidence for the effects MS-ESS3-4 of resource availability on Construct an argument WHST.6-8.7 organisms and populations of supported by evidence for how Conduct short research projects organisms in an ecosystem. increases in human population to answer a question (including and per-capita consumption of a self-generated question), MS-LS2-4 natural resources impact Earth’s drawing on several sources and Construct an argument systems. generating additional related, supported by empirical evidence focused questions that allow for that changes to physical or MS-ESS3-5 multiple avenues of exploration. biological components of an Ask questions to clarify ecosystem affect populations. evidence of the factors that WHST.6-8.1 have caused the rise in global Write arguments focused on MS-LS2-5 temperatures over the past discipline content. Evaluate competing design century. solutions for maintaining WHST.6-8.7 biodiversity and ecosystem Conduct short research projects services. to answer a question (including 22 NatGeoEd.org a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for 21st Century Skills National Geography multiple avenues of exploration. Standards • Problem Solving Standard 14: How human WHST.6-8.8 • Critical Thinking actions modify the physical Gather relevant information • Collaboration environment from multiple print and digital • Communication sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility National Educational and accuracy of each source; Technology Standards for and quote or paraphrase the Students (NETS*S) data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and Standard 2: Communication and following a standard format for Collaboration citation. Standard 4: Critical Thinking, WHST.6-8.9 Problem Solving, and Decision Draw evidence from Making informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and Standard 6: Technology research. Operations and Concepts

23 NatGeoEd.org National Geographic Resources on Agriculture and Related Issues

Lessons and Background and, more broadly, on global Cultivating Life in the Information on Agriculture climate change. http://education. Sonoran Desert nationalgeographic.com/news/ An article showing how Collection about Agriculture Roots-of-sustainability/ educators are using small- Collection of lesson plans, scale organic farming and interactives, articles, and photos Green Scene new agricultural methods on agriculture from National This article explains how St. like to provide Geographic Education. http:// Phillips Academy in Newark, NJ students with outdoor education.nationalgeographic. is working to incorporate urban learning experiences and com/topics/agriculture/ agriculture into its educational highlighting links between model. The EcoSPACES sustainable practices and Agriculture program is designed to give food security. http://education. A detailed description of students a better understanding nationalgeographic.com/ the of sustainability through direct education/news/cultivating-life- with a discussion of more experience with growing their sonoran-desert/?ar_a=1 recent technologies such as own food on the school’s rooftop aquaponics and genetically and experimenting New Tools and Technologies modified seeds. http://education. with the “indoor agricultural in Agriculture nationalgeographic.com/ machine.” http://education. encyclopedia/agriculture/ nationalgeographic.com/ A Natural Solution education/news/green- A short video about Bringing Agriculture to the scene/?ar_a=1 biopesticides. These pesticides, Classroom derived from natural combatants Food for the City like plants, animals, and Roots of Sustainability A short video that explains bacteria, are a growing segment This article discusses the growth of farmers’ markets of the pesticide market. As alternative and sustainable and urban agriculture in the more consumers demand safer methods of farming, such as past decade. http://education. foods made with fewer harsh CSAs, becoming a “locavore,” nationalgeographic.com/ chemicals, the demand for and urban agriculture. It education/video/food-for-the- these biopesticides grows. http:// 24 NatGeoEd.org describes the impact of our city/?ar_a=1 education.nationalgeographic. food choices on our landscapes com/education/video/a-natural- solution/?ar_a=1 Food and Global Food throughout the world. http:// environmental geographies that Security education.nationalgeographic. underlie our food choices. http:// com/maps/wbt-staple-food- education.nationalgeographic. What the World Eats crops-world/ com/education/media/planet- An interactive that shows the food/?ar_a=1 differences in diet between The Paradox of various countries. http:// Undernourishment Food Crops in the Americas education.nationalgeographic. This article discusses This activity challenges com/education/media/dietary- inequalities in food production students to map land use, consumption-around-world/?ar_ and food access, providing land cover, and agriculture in a=1 a map of the world’s most the Americas, pushing them undernourished countries. http:// to draw conclusions about Food Staples education.nationalgeographic. the relationship between an A detailed description of com/education/news/paradox- environment and the crops that the various food staples undernourishment/?ar_a=1 grow there. http://education. used around the world, an nationalgeographic.com/ explanation of what food staples Sustainable America: All education/activity/food-crops- are, and how they contribute About Food americas/?ar_a=1 to a community’s diet. There A set of infographics from is also discussion of “food Sustainable America, a non- Saving Seeds appropriation,” in which staples profit organization that seeks An article on global seed in one part of the world become to educate and empower banks, special facilities used to popular in another, driving more Americans to take steps preserve seeds of threatened prices up (i.e. quinoa from the towards sustainable living. http:// plant species that have been Andean countries becoming a education.nationalgeographic. pushed out by mono-cropping. popular food in the U.S.). http:// com/education/media/ A great resource to alert education.nationalgeographic. sustainable-america-all-about- students to the tremendous com/education/encyclopedia/ food/?ar_a=1 genetic diversity of crops food-staple/?ar_a=1 on Earth. http://education. Planet Food Interactive and nationalgeographic.com/ Staple Food Crops of the Educator’s Guide education/news/saving- World The Planet Food Interactive seeds/?ar_a=1 This GeoTour in the Mapmaker gives students the opportunity Interactive allows students to to understand where their 25 NatGeoEd.org see where certain food staple food comes from, and to crops are grown and consumed understand the economic and For Further Exploration Credits General Published by The National Geographic Society Gary E . Knell, President and CEO American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture John M . Fahey, Jr ., Chairman http://www.agfoundation.org/resources/addressing-misconceptions Melina Bellows, Chief Education Officer

Created by The United Nations: Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture National Geographic http://www.un.org/en/sustainablefuture/food.asp Education and Children’s Media

The United States Department of Agriculture © 2015 National Geographic Society http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome Development and Design FableVision The United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service Editor Elizabeth Wolzak, http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics.aspx National Geographic Society

Organic Farming Expert Reviewer FAO background information on organic farming Julie Borlaug Larsen, Norman E . Borlaug Institute for International http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-home/en/ Agriculture, Texas A&M University Organic Farming and Climate Change Project Coordination http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4137e/y4137e02b.htm Katie Williams, National Geographic Society Genetically Modified Crops Research Manager Bittersweet Harvest: The Debate Over Genetically Modified Crops Sarah Appleton, http://search.proquest.com/docview/230862619/ National Geographic Society fulltext?accountid=3615 Funder Top Crop was made possible with support Urban Agriculture from Bayer CropScience . Urban Agriculture https://afsic.nal.usda.gov/farms-and-community/urban-agriculture

26 NatGeoEd.org