Local school students learn about food security during a visit to Lancaster University, including the role of bugs, agribusiness, colonialism and green sheep, as their teacher Chantal Bramwell explains.
It was a bitterly cold and wet day when all 117 of Urmston Grammar’s Year 9 students set out for a fun filled day at Lancaster University. Our aim: to learn all there was to know about food security issues.
We were greeted by a group of helpful university students wearing red jumpers, who always had a smile and were our guides for the rest of the day. The University had produced a great booklet for each Year 9 student, detailing the workshops and their locations and setting questions to answer on their learning journey.
The day began with a welcome and then an informative lecture from Professor Bill Davies (CBE). The Year 9s were in awe both of Bill and their first taste of a university lecture theatre. One brave young soul managed to overcome his awe in order to ask Bill a probing question about the cultivation of rice in dry conditions as a way to overcome issues with water shortages.
From here we were divided into several groups and guided to a series of informative and interactive workshops. Workshops led by researchers and post graduate students both reinforced Year 9s existing knowledge and provided new learning. For example Year 9 learnt from the Sex, Bugs ‘n’ Rock ‘n’ Roll workshop all about the importance of insects for pollination and this was complimented by the equally interactive Guerrilla Gardening workshop.
The most popular workshop, Science Hunters, was based around the game of Minecraft where students coloured sheep pink and then green, tallying numbers as they did so, in order to learn the processes involved in tracking animals in the natural environment.
The Famine workshop was a chance to draw comparisons between the Irish potato famine of the 1800s and famines we see reported in the news today. Year 9 were able to discuss land-grabs and agribusiness and to draw similarities between these causes of food insecurity and colonialism as a cause of the Irish potato famine. A fabulous opportunity to study history and geography together.
Food waste & Food miles allowed Year 9 to learn lots about the science of food storage and movement and they were given a chance to examine the trendy view that buying local is best. Students began by guessing where they thought everyday food items such as bananas, green beans and grapes were from. Professors talked the students through methods of transport and artificial environments used to deliver goods to our shelves in the best/freshest conditions.
The day was a rich and varied learning experience, with many curriculum links beyond the obvious geography content.
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