EdPARC

Case studies are currently being developed based on projects/products developed within Ed-PARC for natural resources and agriculture. These studies will be in a format approriate for use in school settings and will be made available when completed. The case studies presently underway are:

Prescribed Fire as a Management Tool
Precision Farming

Prescribed Fire as a Management Tool

This instructional module will be designed and constructed to answer the following questions:

What is prescribed fire? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
What technologies are involved in prescribed fire? How are they monitored?
What types of data must be collected?
How are the data processed and visualized? How are they used to make management decisions?

Initial development of the module will be a joint effort between the University of Montana Ed-PARC members and cooperating teachers, and the Region 1 Montana Forest Service. The Cascade Science Program (Cascade High School, Cascade, MT) has agreed to participate in collecting and processing data, writing instructional materials and pilot testing the modules. The module will include a video on the effects of fire in the ecosystem and a CD called "Farside" featuring the process used to practice prescribed burns in the forest service.

Progress:
The burn area has been chosen and mapped using GPS. A model of the area is being developed to practice the burning process prior to carrying out a burn in the field.

Precision Farming

EdPARC members from South Dakota State University and Montana State University and their cooperating teachers will design and construct an instructional module to answer the following questions.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of precision farming?
What are the technologies involved in precision farming (e.g., remote sensing, GPS, GIS, variable rate applicators)?
What types of data must be collected?
How are the data collected?
How are the data processed and visualized?
How are the data used to make farming decisions?

The case study will utilize data collected at three sites in Montana and South Dakota. These sites are representative of three different ecosystems. The Montana sites are in Flathead County and Liberty County where mint and small grains, respectively, are grown. Corn and soybeans are grown at the South Dakota site. To the extent possible, already existing data for the sites will be utilized for the case study. It will be necessary, however, to collect some additional data at the sites and from the Internet. Datasets to be utilized for the case study include soil types and nutrients, topography, farming practices, climate and weather, weeds and pests, crop yield and satellite and aircraft imagery. ArcView GIS software will be used to integrate, analyze and visualize the data.

The module will include a list of educational objectives, datasets from the three sites, a computer simulation of how the various types of data are used to vary the rate of fertilizer and chemical applications, and a discussion of the economic and environmental issues related to precision farming. The module will be pilot tested in the classroom by the cooperating teachers. Feedback from the teachers will be used to refine the module before it is released for general use.