Farm to Fork
Lesson Three: Debate Beef Hormone Controversy
Materials:
· Survey about meat
· Article "The Price of Life" by Steven L. Hopp
· Prompts for both sides of debate
· Video "Sick as a Pig" from The Ecologist website.
· Sustainable Times Newspaper: The Verdict Is In On CAFOs: Guilty As Charged
Prep:
· Prepare materials
· Ask principal to visit classroom
MMSD Curriculum Standards Connections:
· Grade 5—Key Concept: World Trade
o Performance Standard: "Describe the role of world trade in the U.S. economic development.
§ Students will investigate animal production across the United States and abroad. Students will be learning about a real world example of how trade is affected by genetically modified meat production.
Elementary Education Standards Connections:
· Standard 8: Employs varied assessment processes
o Teachers understand and thoughtfully use formal and informal evaluation strategies to assess students’ achievements, strengths, challenges and learning styles for continuous development.
§ Students will be assessed in their research capabilities as well as the students’ ability to convey their findings in the format of a debate. Assessment will also be conducted with their journal entries in relation to how their views about animal injections have changed or not changed.
Wisconsin DPI Social Studies Standards:
· Content Standard Social Studies Standard C (Political Science and Citizenship): Power, authority, governance, and responsibility.
§ Students will have a chance to debate both sides of a very heated issue concerning hormone injections in animals. In addition, students will explore the power and authority in which large corporations have taken over our society's meat industry. Finally, students will have a chance to voice their opinions
Lesson Objectives:
· Students will be able to contend one argument of the beef hormone controversy.
· Students will be able to explore the power and authority of large corporations.
Lesson Opening:
· Give students the survey (see below).
Procedural Steps:
Begin lesson by giving students each a survey. The survey will have questions on it such as: Do you eat meat? What types of meat do you have? What they know about meat? How much meat do you eat in one week? What are the benefits of meat? Do you know how much meat costs? Where do you get your meat from?...etc.
Have students "turn and talk" with a partner about their responses. At this time, the students are just exploring "meat" and thinking about it.
Come back as a whole class and have a whole class conversation. Let the students lead this for the most part, but guiding questions might be: What issues arose during your turn and talk? Do you have any questions/concerns? Is anyone a vegetarian…why?
Explain to students that we are going to be doing some research about meat production and consumption and then we are going to have a debate.
At this time teacher should give students a little context of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO). Read article by Steven L. Hopp called "The Price of Life."
Important things to mention:
i. "Currently, 98% of chickens in the U.S. are produced by large corporations,"
ii. "a six foot-by-eight-foot room can house 1,152 chickens,"
iii. "CAFO animals in the United States produce about six times the volume of fecal matter of all humans on our planet," …etc.
iv. P. 91 in Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingslover.
Split class into two groups. We will be having a debate between the European Union Consumer and the Cattle Business/Agro-chemical Executives.
One group represents the European Union Consumer and another group represents the Cattle Business/Agro-chemical Executives.Give students prompts to each group.
Groups will have 2-3 days (this could be decreased or increased depending on time) to conduct quality research in order to find out more about their side of the issue. Suggest the following resources:
· Slow Food International: www.slowfoodusa.org--supports good, clean and fair foods.
· foodfirst.org - Food First. Oakland, California.
· iatp.org - Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
· meat/poultry.com - Organization for the meat and poultry industries.
· foodsafetynow.org - Action on genetically-modified foods and other food safety issues.
· theecologist.org - The Ecologist magazine; worthwhile articles.
· ifg.org - The International Forum on Globalization: critical resources on global trade issues.
· wto.org - The World Trade Organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
· ustr.gov - The U.S. government's trade mission to the WTO.
These websites were suggested by the website Rethinking Schools Online. http://www.rethinkingschools.org/index.shtml
Invite the Principal to come in on the day of the debate. Have the Principal serve as the debate dispute-resolution panel. If the Principal is unavailable, invite another adult or you could serve as the dispute-resolution panel.
The idea is not to declare one side of the debate the winner or the "right" way of thinking; rather, the goal is to make students aware of both sides of the issue and to get them thinking about the meat they consume.
After the debate, play the 7 minute video "Sick as a Pig" from The Ecologist website. http://www.theecologist.org/pages/ecologist_media.asp?podcast_id=108
This video shows us a factory farm raising pigs in the Netherlands. This farm gives their pigs antibiotics and has caused sickness in the pigs and people. It also addresses the opposing side of large factory farming and discusses the maltreatment of animals.
Before playing video, split class into three groups. Each group will be in charge of thinking about the following regarding their main topic:
1. Facts
2. "Wow! I can't believe that" moments
3. Questions/concerns
i. Group 1: Conditions on the pig farm
ii. Group 2: MRSA and use of antibiotics in animals
iii. Group 3: Organic farming practices
Come back as a whole class and share insights about your topic. A whole class discussion will follow.
Finally, present article from Sustainable Times Newspaper: The Verdict Is In On CAFOs: Guilty As Charged
Have students read article and then move into final activity explained below (Lesson Closure).
Allow see the following article in Willy Street Co-op Reader: Black Earth Meats and Grandpa's Way Meats: Organic and Pasture-Fed Meats by Lynn Olson March 2009.
Lesson Closure:
· Final activity: Students will journal about the following: Have your views changed about meat? Do you think CAFO's present a global problem?
Assessment Strategies:
· Students will be assessed in their capability to conduct research about their chosen side of the argument. Students should utilize websites provided as well as other sources they come across. The debate is meant to be a collaborative and hypothetical activity—students should work together and make a solid case for their side. Teacher will assess student teamwork and participation by circulating the groups during work time as well as keeping track of participation during the debate.
Differentiation:
· Teacher could possibly assign certain students to have "jobs" during the research process. This might give some kids more of a certain direction to take their investigations.
Cultural Relevance:
· Meat issues, from cost of production to animal injections, are very current issues right now which affect almost all Americans because we consume so much meat on a daily basis. Our nation has become quite dependent on meat, and it is important to understand both sides of issues regarding meat production and consumption.
