ThE pRImED pROJECT

Jo Tregonning & Nathan Curnow

with the content at a deeper level and are more likely to remember what you taught.

A recently released teacher-student resource package “PRIMED” aims to encourage us to connect our students with local primary industries in our communities within Western Australia. PRIMED also seeks to engage students to improve their understanding of the diverse career opportunities in these sectors. It is a collaborative initiative between the Department of Education, the Department of Training and Workforce Development and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

Resources are aligned with the Western Australian curriculum for students in Years 7–10 for HASS, Science and Technologies across all education regions of WA. The PRIMED project is not an add-on to our already burgeoning curriculum requirements, but a shift in the context in which we are teaching our learning objectives and concepts.

Making learning meaningful to our students and engaging them in activities that connect to their realworld experiences and applications is always at the forefront of a teacher’s mind. If students can see connections to themselves, their experiences and contexts, they are much more likely to see a reason to learn what you are offering. If it matters to them, then you have your lesson hook and students will engage

Why primary Industries are so important to our future prosperity.

According to the Primary Industries Plan 2020–2024 (DPIRD, 2020), primary industries in our State contribute more than $10 billion to our State economy annually, account for approximately 12% of our State workforce (161, 600 jobs) and directly support more than 39,300 jobs in farming, fisheries and forestry with another 19,100 related jobs in food and beverage manufacturing.

A parliamentary inquiry into strengthening and safeguarding Australia’s food security finished in Canberra on 29 March 2023, hearing from dozens of organisations on issues facing food production, farming costs, supply chain distribution, environmental challenges (droughts, floods, disease, feral animals) and the threat of climate change (Cole, 2023). To continue the supply of nutritious food, and for everyone to have access to this food geographically and economically, will require multidisciplinary innovation into the future.

Agricultural education matters for secondary school students in order to attract and develop the future agricultural workforce, ensure consumers are accurately informed about the products they consume, enable digital transformation of the agricultural industry and promote our reputation as a producer of sustainable products (Cosby et. al., 2022). Production environments and consumer demands are also dynamic and continue to evolve, meaning that primary industries need to recruit individuals who are engaged and possess many of the skills highly prized for future workforces.

What are the pRImED resources for students and teachers of science?

The PRIMED resources include teacher workbooks with structured sequential lesson plans, online links, student worksheets, activity resources, PowerPoint presentations and videos using WA examples. The resources are written to cover a term of learning per year group. They provide different case studies and suggestions to link to the local context in which you are teaching. There are many hands-on activities and experiments and even suggested answers and instructions to support teachers using these resources in their classrooms.

at: https://primaryconnections.org.au/resourcesand-pedagogies/pedagogies/5e-model-frameworkguided-inquiry how can they be used?

Flexibility is key here. Teachers have already been using the PRIMED resources in their entirety with the suggested year group, using selected lessons and activities that fit with their context and student interests, using lessons across different year levels, and/or using the resources in different Science learning contexts such as General Integrated Science and General Plant Production Systems.

The PRIMED resources are also a great opportunity to embed cross-curriculum priorities into curriculum delivery and to embed the General capabilities in your teaching and learning in both explicit and implicit ways. For example, the case study of the black soldier fly larvae as converters of farm waste that can be turned into a commercial fish food in aquaculture gives students opportunities to look at innovative and sustainable food production for industry and the importance of critical and creative thinking in changing more traditional practices. Students can also explore sustainability, ethical understanding and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and culture, and the thousands of years of scientific understanding of our native flora, as they look at bush tucker and sustainable food practices and the ethics of working to limit food waste in supply chains amongst other topics across the PRIMED resources in Years 7–10.

The PRIMED resources are based on the 5-E Model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate). This model is adapted from Primary Connections –linking science with literacy which is available

These resources have also taken the Sustainable Development Goals into account, which are available here: https://sdgs.un.org/goals. This makes the PRIMED packages a fantastic opportunity for teachers to make meaningful links to a number of these goals through primary industries in our Western Australian context. Students can explore some of the goals adopted by the United Nation member states as part of a call to action for a better world in these primary industry contexts, but can also see how they could be part of the solution now and into the future.

Structure of the resource packages

Year 7 - Soils – the basis of food production

This series of activities challenges students to engage with the WA Science Curriculum by becoming soil scientists. Through investigating soil health, chemistry and as dynamic ecosystems teaming with life, students are able to gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of the biological and physical world and how humans interact with it to sustainably produce our essential food and natural fibres.

Year 8 - Life under cover – applying knowledge of cells and systems in food and fibre production

This series of activities focuses on comparisons of human cells and organ systems with those of other living organisms commonly used in the WA primary industries for food and fibre production e.g. the seafood industry by dissecting fish and squid; researching and experimenting using case studies such as black soldier flies.

Year 9 - Ecosystems and balance – producing, protecting and conserving

Focusing on balanced and sustainable ecosystems in WA food and fibre production primary industries. Examples include fire adaptations, energy flow in different ecosystems, factors affecting photosynthesis, ecosystem management (Phytophthora dieback, rumen microbes, dung beetles).

Year 10 – WA primary producers – solving the big issues how do I access the pRImED resources?

Students engage in learning about “Wicked Problems” facing WA agriculture, and current innovators aiming to solve some of our issues using genetic engineering, GMOs, biosecurity, machinery and technology examples.

The PRIMED resources can be accessed on the WA Department of Education website: https://myresources. education.wa.edu.au/programs/primed-overview.

Here you will find the overview of the program and its resources, as well as resources for both teachers and students in Science (as well as HASS and Technologies).

For those teachers in non-government schools, some resources on this website may require a user login to enable full access, but this can be done by registering with your work e-mail address.

References

1. Cole, Hamish (2023) Food security facing growing threats, farmers tell Australian parliamentary inquiry. ABC Rural, Wednesday 29 March 2023. https://www.abc.net.au/news/ rural/2023-03-29/food-security-facing-threatsfrom-climate-change-farmers-say/102158222 [Accessed June 20, 2023]

2. Cosby, A, Manning, J, Fogarty, E, Snowden, A, McCosker, A, McDonald, N, Lancaster, L, O’Dea, M. (2022). ‘Ag Knowledge in Schools. What do Australian primary and secondary students know about Agriculture?’, CQ University Australia.

3. DPIRD (2020) Primary Industries Plan 2020 – 2024. Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. https:// www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/ primary-industries-plan-2020-2024 [Accessed June 20, 2023]

4. Primary Connections (n.d.) The 5E model: a framework for guided inquiry. Australian Academy of Science. https:// primaryconnections.org.au/resources-andpedagogies/pedagogies/5e-model-frameworkguided-inquiry [Accessed June 20, 2023]

5. United Nations. (n.d.). The 17 goals | sustainable development. United Nations. https://sdgs.un.org/goals [Accessed June 20, 2023]