Every child must eat, so food is an excellent way to teach children about sustainability issues. Below are ideas to incorporate The Meatrix into your classes and additional resources for teachers to use in their classroom. If you are a parent, feel free to pass this information on to your children’s teachers.

Meatrix Curricula

• The Meatrix Series
  These humorous animated shorts provide an entertaining way to give students an overview of the problems associated with factory farms. And be sure to check out the entire Meatrix site, which includes an animated, 360 degree interactive industrial dairy farm scene.  The films are also available to you on DVD at no cost. Contact us for a copy.
• Examining Media through The Meatrix
  This short lesson was developed from The Meatrix by Susan Isaacs, a teacher in Alberta, Canada at the School of Hope. It encourages students to examine the media that surrounds them in order to analyze messages and meanings.
• Lesson Plans for Factory Farming [PowerPoint]
  A PowerPoint presentation about factory farming from teaching students at Acadia University in Nova Scotia . The authors used information from both The Meatrix and Sustainable Table for their presentation. (Joclyn Burke and Justin Dill, 2005)

Our Meatrix Curricula Contest Winners

In 2005, Sustainable Table invited teachers from grades 5-8 to submit a Unit based on the topics covered in The Meatrix. The curriculum could cover all subjects mentioned in the film or could focus on one or two issues in detail.  Two winners were selected to receive cash awards: $1,000 for first place, and $500 for second place.

FIRST PLACE
Melissa Bannister's Lesson Plan [PDF]

Melissa Bannister of Downey Elementary in Harrisburg, PA, developed a lesson plan around The Meatrix which incorporates Language, Science, Social Studies, Math, Technology and Art. The plan covers three weeks worth of 50 minute class periods, and allows students to research, debate and present the topic of factory farming in order to strengthen their questioning, essay writing and public speaking skills. Using library and internet research skills, students are able to investigate the topic after being introduced to it through The Meatrix, and come to their own conclusions. Key elements involve learning how to separate fact from opinion, and learning how to use statistics to construct an argument.

Not only do students learn about the issues, but they can apply them to their own lives, through scientific and intellectual analysis of their own food system and eating habits. The conclusion of the unit allows students to use multiple approaches, both scientific and social, to understand what they eat and why.

SECOND PLACE
VaReane Heese's Lesson Plan [PDF]

In VaReane Heese's lesson plan, students imagine they have just been recruited by a company to research one of the issues relating to sustainable agriculture. The final result is the creation of a brochure and a commercial that is written, videotaped and produced by the students and that informs an audience about their chosen issue. Students are given the opportunity to sharpen their research, writing and communication skills while learning about media and new technologies.

This project is intended to build self-confidence through critical thinking, as students are given contact information for various experts in the field of sustainability and agriculture and asked to interview them. This empowers students to be proactive about information gathering and the research process.

Sustainable Kids! VaReane Heese's future sustainable agriculture experts show off their Meatrix gear.

More Ideas: Activities and Short Lessons

• Invite a local farmer to speak in your classroom.
• Take a class trip to a nearby family farm, or visit a local animal confinement for a close view of how the operation looks - and smells. If possible, do both in one day and have the children write a paper on their impression of each place.
• View a factory farm or food-related video and follow with a discussion.
• Be a Food Detective
  Helps students understand what goes into an ordinary meal. Students consider where their food comes from and how many miles it travels to their table. Grades 9 - 12. (Agriculture in the Classroom, part of the USDA)
• A Teen Activist's Guide to Factory Farms
  Help students understand problems associated with factory farms and what can be done to stop them. Visit the site for a colorful, easy to navigate version, or contact us for free booklets.
• Teach economics and social studies by examining how factory farms affect rural communities and how local food systems benefit communities and their environment.  Check out our issues pages for more information.
• Teach science and ecology by learning about pollution from factory farms and the environmental benefits of sustainable farming.  More details on our issues pages.
• The Learning Garden
  Online educational programs and courses for gardeners and educators. Includes From Seed to Seed: Plant Science for K-8 Educators ($60)
• The Pig Picture
  This 18-minute video traces the development of commercial pig rearing in America - from the small-scale family farms of yesterday, to the corporate owned pig factories of today. Does not contain scenes of animal slaughter and is suitable for group or school showings. This video is available to watch online or is available for purchase through the Humane Farming Association website for $10 per copy. (1995)

Additional Curricula

• Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
  The University of Wisconsin Madison has created teacher curricula for sustainable agriculture. The 152 page guide includes six teacher reference guide sections outlining the scope of sustainable agriculture, an instructional unit summarizing key concepts, and 21 learning activities. Cost is only $15.
• Creating a Sustainability Curriculum at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Proposal to create a sustainable living major at UMASS, written by a group of students, faculty, and members of the community. Describes the rationale for creating a sustainability curriculum, along with examples of career paths it could lead to and a model of what the major would require.
• EcoHealth is the brainchild of Dr. Jonathan Patz, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. Aimed at grades 5-8, the site includes classroom activities and lesson plans on the subject of the environment and our health.
• Farm to Table
  Makes agriculture-related curriculum available to classroom teachers and provides students with meaningful lessons that help them gain greater appreciation for where their food comes from and the role of farming in shaping their regional landscape and community. The thirty-plus lesson plans may be used in conjunction with school visits to Hancock Shaker Village and other farms or independently in the classroom. Lesson plans emphasize the scientific and environmental dimensions of agriculture and are designed to foster critical thinking skills. Each lesson plan includes other interdisciplinary extensions such as field trips, class projects, and art, literature and history connections. ($19.95, from the New England Heritage Breeds Conservancy)
• Farms as Factories: Issues in Animal Welfare, Environmental Protection and Public Health
  High school students and their teachers examine the differences between factory farming and sustainable farming of animals and explore various issues through discussion. (Humane Society of the United States)
• From Global Hunger to Sustainable Food Systems: Challenges and Choices
  What does it take for the people of the world to feed themselves? This 4-week curriculum for middle schools (grades 6-8) enables students to discover the root causes of hunger, examine the myth that industrialized agriculture is needed to feed the world, and gives them the knowledge and the skills to envision and begin creating and participating in a sustainable food system. Includes activities such as calculating individual food footprints to show students the impact of their diets on the environment. They have many programs available for various grade levels.  (Programs are for a fee, The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education)
• Seafood Watch Educational Materials
  Material from the Monterey Bay Aquarium created for educators to learn more about the problems facing our oceans.
• Sustainable Dining
  Designed for lower high school (7 - 10th grade) economics, home economics, and general education classes, students will learn about sustainably produced groceries as a valuable and environmentally friendly option for grocery shopping. (Earth Day Network and Redefining Progress)