Agri Aware and UCD School of Agriculture & Food Science have come to the assistance of Leaving Certificate Agricultural Science students by developing a new curriculum-linked experiment video series to aid them in their studies. This is in response to the challenges of school closures and changes to the Agricultural Science curriculum.
The Essential Experiments series contains at least 11 experiments that cover mandatory, Leaving Cert Agricultural Science experiment topics such as soils, milk quality and crop science.
The experiments in the videos were carried out by UCD School of Agriculture & Food Science professors and staff, who have a wealth of in-depth knowledge and experience working at the forefront of the agriculture and food science sectors.
The UCD staff have received guidance from the Irish Agricultural Science Teachers Association (IASTA) on how best to carry out the experiments in order to fit the needs of students and teachers, who have missed out on vital lab time as a result of Covid-19 restrictions over the last 12 months.
The videos will be shared with Leaving Cert Agricultural Science teachers nationwide, who can then share them with their students and they will also be made available for free on Agri Aware’s Youtube and social media platforms.
Speaking about the Essential Experiments video series, Agri Aware Chairman, Alan Jagoe stated:
“We are delighted to partner with UCD School of Agriculture & Food Science for this Essential Experiments video series. The videos come at a time where teachers and students are in real need of extra, digital resources as schools were closed for over two months this year and over three months last year.
“Current Leaving Cert students and teachers have missed out on important class and lab time, so we hope that these videos will help bring the lab experience alive for students and act as an invaluable resource for them in the run up to their Leaving Cert exam,” said Mr Jagoe.
Commenting on the new video initiative, Professor Alexander Evans, Dean of Agriculture and Head of UCD School of Agriculture & Food Science said: "We are delighted to support our hard-working teachers and students studying Agricultural Science by partnering with Agri Aware and developing a selection of relevant experiments to support learning.
“Experimentation, observation, interpretation and explanation are critical parts of the scientific process and we look forward to meeting the agricultural scientists and leaders of the future,” said Professor Evans.
IASTA PRO, Johnny Gleeson thanked Agri Aware and UCD for the creation of the Essential Experiments video series which he said will be a huge help to Agricultural Science students and teachers nationwide.
“It is great that Agri Aware and UCD have been able to come together to create these wonderful resources that will help teachers and students in years to come, not only this year where access to labs has been an issue but going forward they are a great resource to have to accompany the new Agricultural Science course,” said Mr Gleeson.
Check out the Essential Experiment videos here. More videos will be added to the Agri Aware YouTube Channel over the coming weeks, so keep an eye out on Agri Aware and UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science’s social media platforms for details.