Celebrate National Chemistry Week with Agriculture

I grew up in a small town in east-central Illinois.  Actually Hindsboro was bigger 20+ years ago, but I went to school in Oakland---another small town.  When I went to the University of Illinois, had to explain to some of my fellow freshmen--that I could really get into the big U with a graduating class of 32!    We even had chemistry!   Who knew that one day--with a  History and English Teaching Degree--one day--I'd be talking about Chemistry in Agriculture?  Well--Mr. Sullivan (my HS Chemistry Teacher!) this one is for you!!

October 16-22 marks National Chemistry Week!  Yes--you will find chemistry in Agriculture!   Not just the Arsenic (yes it IS an element! Symbol As; Atomic Weight 33) that Dr. Oz was talking about a couple of weeks ago!   The Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association has some excellent resources related to our three main Chemicals related to agriculture N, P and K 

As harvest continues across the state, you'll soon notice many farmers incorporating nitrogen into their field in the form of anhydrous ammonia (NH3) and ammonium sulfate ([NH4]2SO4).  Farmers take special precautions when using these materials that are used as an aid to replenish nitrogen used in the growing process.    The concept of adding fertilizer is old, real old!   Since 1849 mixed fertilizer has been sold commercially, and even long before that, the legend says that Squanto (or Tisquantum) taught the Pilgrims to fertilize their corn with fish.  The practice of replenishing the nutrients of the soil is something consumers do as well as they begin to prepare their lawns for the winter.

The Virginia Ag in the Classroom program has developed some outstanding middle school and high school chemistry applications using the periodic table.  My favorite is a lesson on what percentages of each element N, P and K are in various size bags of fertilizer.  For example a 10 pound bag of  10-10-10 fertilizer contains 10% of each N, P, and K.   30% of the bag (3 pounds) is actually the nutrient, the remaining 70% (7 pounds) are filler, which allows those using the fertilizer to spread it over a large area without the threat of over-fertilizing. 

Our own Illinois Soil Ag Mag features a great look at N, P and K and how Illinois farmers work to protect our most precious asset, our great soil!

So as we celebrate National Chemistry Week this week--what about watching a farmer, and thanking him for taking care of the land and the water we all share--and learn a little chemistry along the way!

Isn't everyday National Denim Day?

According to Mike Rowe today is National Denim Day .  We celebrated Jeans Day at Work here at the Illinois Farm Bureau last week as a show of support for McLean County United Way.  But wouldn't it be a perfect day to wear Jeans to work?  Or maybe even Jeans Shorts?   IAITC is 'unpacking' from extended trips to Southern Illinois University and Eastern Illinois University  where we conducted Pre-Service Teacher Training activities.  Additional, we launched our First "FACEBOOK LIKE" Challenge we called Wacky Wednesday----to see which University would give us more 'Facebook likes'-----the Winner was EIU.  Granted--I didn't do the presentations at EIU--but my MS is from EIU!  We're packing again for a busy week at Aurora University on Monday, and Presentations at the Central Illinois Adult Education Service Center Conference on Wednesday, and heading to Olivette Nazarene University later in the week! 

One thing to be assured of ----we'll see plenty of denim.  Students wear denim, and Mike Rowe has people thinking about it--for a cause.  But what about where the denim comes from?  Sure the store.  As with food coming from the store---what about where fiber comes from?   We do a great activity with cotton from the USDA AITC Growing A Nation interactive CD rom--called King Cotton, where we have student hand gin cotton.   Even though we don't grow cotton in Illinois, this lends itself to math, language, science and social studies as you would be shocked the number of people that have never seen cotton. 

So as you celebrate Jeans Day --everyday?--consider the source of the fiber---maybe by watching the an episode of America's Heartland based on cotton.   Click here to take you to their cotton page.

Practicing Label Reading

The last 2 weeks have seen the IAITC Program across the state at various teacher and pre-service training sessions.  Last week--I was at Waubonsee Community College, St Francis University (with the ULTRA Cool reserved parking space!), Judson University, Cook County Farm Bureau, and now at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, while AITC also had presentations at Eastern Illinois.  We put a lot of miles on the Farm Bureau mini-vans!  Ooh and by the way--did you notice we have a new agintheclassroom.org website?

As we continue to provide information about our program, and agriculture in general, it is always interesting to me to watch the reactions of students (of all ages) realize something that is right before them that they've never realized.  Lately, it seems our Dairy Ag Mag is making people stop and consider. 

Our activity called "Think Your Drink" has caused students to examine their drinks---and what they are drinking.   We also typically include an activity on Nutrition we call "Digesting the World's Diet" linking the book the Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel.  When we ask students to find fascinating facts---specifically about Chad---I'm amazed they always say that the refuge family has no dairy.   Shows me how they take dairy for granted!   Lately, I've  been incorporating local milk that I purchase from the local Subway Sandwich Shop.   See Subway offers milk sold by Shamrock Farms.  No big deal.  Until you look at the expiration date---instead of an expiration date, there is a 'best by date'.    Shamrock sells milk that has been UHT pasteurized.   Shelf stable milk (needs no refrigeration until it has been opened) has been around for a while, and in many countries in Europe, you'll find it as the standard.  In Japan and Haiti, after the earthquakes, shelf stable milk provided dairy without refrigeration.  

In the US you can find UHT Milk at Subway and Panera Bread.   Even though many student have seen the milk there--they didn't realize it was different.  Some scoff at the technology.   My typical response is to ask the students to consider how quickly cell phone technology has changed, and how they just accept that change.  Why wouldn't our food supply change with technology and time?

Hopefully it leaves them with something to consider! 

This week concludes with a final day at SIU.  Keep an eye on our Facebook site, as we are having a 'like' contest.....between SIU and EIU on what we called "Wacky Wednesday"!   Keep an eye out for all those hardworking Illinois Farm Families working on the harvest!