An Aloha ʻĀina Academy Summer 2022 Professional Development (PD) Course is specifically designed to train and empower high school teachers to teach Sustainable Food Systems for high school basic science credits through a multi-disciplinary and food systems approach.
Applications are now being accepted for the online synchronous summer course, “Teaching SIF 3503 – Sustainable Food Systems,” which will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. July 18 through 22, with fall follow-ups to take place 4 to 5:30 p.m. Aug. 15 and 29, and Sept. 12 and 26.
The University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu’s Dr. Albie Miles, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Community Food Systems, is one of the instructors of the upcoming summer course geared toward teachers’ professional development in sustainable agriculture and food systems. He is joined by Dr. Koh Ming Wei, ecoliteracy educator with the Center for Getting Things Started.
The summer PD course is part of the “Aloha ʻĀina Academy: Agricultural Literacy through Sustainable Food Systems Education,” a project funded by a two-year, $300,000 grant that Miles received last year from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture as part of its Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. Funded projects in this program support best practices in teaching that enhance student learning outcomes.
“The major goal of the project is to provide high-quality, innovative, and practical learning opportunities for middle and high school teachers that enable them to deliver new courses, content, and programming that fosters the development of students and engaged citizens who are both literate in the FAHN sciences (food, agricultural, natural resources, and human sciences) and inspired to become the next generation of sustainable agriculture and food system leaders in Hawaiʻi, Oceania, and beyond,” Miles said last year in an article about the grant award.
Themes of the summer PD course include:
- Ecological and social issues in agriculture, soil ecosystems and soil quality, and ecological and human health
- Agroecology, soil quality and sustainable agricultural principles and practices: soil fertility, pest and resource management
- Praxis (integrating theory with practice): soil preparation, compost, soil quality assessments
- Food systems: public health, sustainability, social equity and resilience
Interested educators may apply here. The deadline to apply is Monday, May 30; applicants will be informed if they are accepted in the course by Monday, June 6. For questions, email mingwei@c4gts.org.
