Area High School educator selected as part of cohort to learn beekeeping, inspire Gen Z students in STEM
Mrs. Denise Clemens, an educator at Northwestern High School, was selected to be part of a cohort of 12-16 educators in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota who will be trained in beekeeping, receive equipment for their schools, develop and implement curriculum that connects the environmental issue and related beekeeping opportunities to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education. The goal is to capture the interest of Generation Z students in the sciences and address pollinator decline utilizing honeybees.
“I look forward to learning more about beekeeping and about how to use this knowledge to bring awareness to our students and community,” says Clemens.
Educators will engage in four 2-day workshops in the summer of 2023 and 2024, including four workshops this summer. The teachers will be led by regional industry representatives, mentors, researchers, and leaders to develop curriculum. They will also be given long-term support from groups such as the Great Plains Master Beekeeping Program at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and others.
This program is part of a $500,000 grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Dr. Duane Bajema, professor emeritus of agriculture at Dordt University, serves as one of the primary investigators for this grant. He will also work with Melanie Bloom, a curriculum consultant and Ph.D. candidate who teaches at Sioux Central High School in Sioux Rapids, Iowa.
The title of the grant is “Bringing Effective and Engaging Science Teaching into the Generation Z (Beestingz) Classroom using Apiculture.”
Pollinators are in decline, and that has long-term ramifications for food and agriculture, says Bajema. The decline is due to many factors, including habitat loss, diminished food supply, insecticides (which have been blamed for many colony deaths and long-term issues), diseases, parasites, and more.
“We need to promote the science part of STEM education at the high school level. Secondary teachers and schools have opportunities to effect local community activities as well as encourage students in the sciences and technology at the post-secondary level.”
Generation Z can have a huge impact on beekeeping, adds Bajema. “Gen Z wants to be creative and contribute to solving problems in the world. In this case, they can serve and impact their local communities by addressing the environmental need of pollinator loss and habitat decline.”
This work is supported by the USDA NIFA. In June, the USDA announced they would have a $262.5 million investment in institutions of higher education to foster the next generation of diverse agricultural professionals across the nation. This includes a $7.3 million investment by NIFA to increase the food and agriculture educational workforce, which supports 16 projects around the country that seeks to increase the number of K-14 educational professionals trained in the food and agricultural sciences. Dordt University is one of these institutions, along with Clemson University, Utah State University, New Mexico State University, University of Alaska Anchorage, and others.