Investigating Rangeland Systems and Practices: Enhancing Sustainable Agriculture Curriculum in South Dakota

Module 1 - Rangeland Overview V5 FINAL copy

Available on the SDSU Extension website: https://extension.sdstate.edu/investigating-rangeland-systems-and-practices 

Module 1 has been developed and introduces students to rangelands through the following activities:

Activity #1A - Rangelands Around the World:

Students are introduced to where rangelands are in the world through maps and pictures. They learn different types of rangelands, such as grasslands, shrublands, woodlands and savannas, and deserts. Students are given a large piece of drawing paper and are tasked with listing the abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) components of their type of rangeland. 

Activity #1B - Rangelands Around the World:

Next, students take what they learned about rangelands, where they are located, and the abiotic and biotic components of them, and they are tasked with making connections in the form of relationships between the abiotic and biotic pieces of the ecosystem. This allows students to discuss the flow of energy and the cycling of matter. 

Activity #2 - Classroom Assessment Technique:

One-minute paper. Students are asked to review their learning in a one-minute paper by describing what rangelands are, where they are located, and how energy and matter flow within them.

Module 2 - Plants V3 FINAL copy

Available on the SDSU Extension website: https://extension.sdstate.edu/investigating-rangeland-systems-and-practices  

Module 2 has been developed and teaches students about rangeland plants through the following activities:

Activity #1 - Dinosaur Extinction:

Students watch a YouTube video that demonstrates how dinosaurs went extinct - the collision of the astroid creates a crater and a cloud of dust. The cloud of dust blocks the sunlight from hitting the earth, resulting in plants dying because they cannot perform photosynthesis without light. Students write an acrostic with the word "photosynthesis" and demonstrate their current state of knowledge on the topic. 

Activity #2 - Photosynthesis - The Starch Test:

The teacher sets up an experiment 24 hours before class, with two plants - one plant has been placed in a dark room for 24 hours and one that has been placed next to a non-shaded window. The students will take a leaf from each plant (dark, light) and place it in hot water, then drop the leaves in ethyl alcohol, which removes the green color from the leaf. The leaves are then covered in iodine solution, which is an indicator of starch. Thus, the leaf from the "light" plant will turn black because starch is present due to photosynthesis and the leaf from the "dark" plant will not turn any color, because no photosynthesis was able to occur. 

Activity #3A - Range Plant Discovery Experiment Setup:

Students will divide into groups and be given plant starter pellets (like the kind you can buy to start seedlings), grass seed, and forb (flowering plant) seeds. Students are going to set up an experiment and will keep a lab notebook documenting their experimental design, process, and conclusions. Students are introduced to the terms drought and flood, and how they relate to rangeland plants. They discover differences in growth patterns between grasses and forbs. Students will rotate group members and come to water their plants and make any observations in their lab notebook.

Activity #3B - Range Plant Treatments and Observations:

Once the grasses have reached 2 inches tall, the students will come back to work on their experiment. Students will be tasked with subjecting their grasses and forbs to different moisture regimes - not enough, just enough, and too much to signify drought, a "normal" year, and a wet year. To mimic cattle grazing, they will use scissors to cut some of the grasses and forbs and compare that to ones that are not cut. Students will find that after a 10 day period of grazing, plants that have been grazed will have a more vigorous root system. 

Activity #3C - Range Plant Discussion and Conclusions:

The teacher and students will have a discussion about the experiment they conducted and the scientific process by discussion what water regime had the healthiest forb and grass, what conditions stressed the plants, what indicators there were of stress, et. 

Activity #4 - Classroom Assessment Technique:

Students will make a new acrostic using the word "photosynthesis" and expand on their knowledge. This is a great metacognitive exercise for students and provides them with the opportunity to think about how much they've learned. Teachers can also use a minute paper for a classroom assessment technique, asking students what the most important think they learned was, and what important questions remain unanswered. 

Module 3 - Animals V4 FINAL

Available on the SDSU Extension website: https://extension.sdstate.edu/investigating-rangeland-systems-and-practices 

Module 3 has been developed and teaches students about rangeland animals through the following activities:

Activity #1 - Field Journals: 

Students are introduced to the idea of field journals - keeping a record of observations, like they did in the experiments in Module 2. This time, however, their observations are focused on the world around them. Old field journal entires are shown to students to decipher - in what ways is a field journal like a diary? How is it different? What is described? Further examples are shared with students of other ways scientists keep track of their work. 

Activity #2 - Grassland Birds: 

Now that students know what a scientific journal entry is, they will create their own journal entry after learning about grassland birds found in South Dakota rangelands. Students will be taught information on key grassland birds: the sharptail, ruffled grouse, and prairie chicken. A video is shown to students on "Audubon Conservation Ranching," to provide a further connection between grassland birds and the relationship they have with grazers, such as cattle, who help create the habitat the birds need. Students are then given a Pocket Guide to Norther Prairie Birds. They are tasked with going and observing one of the birds found in the book and creating a journal entry. Students then report out the next class period and share their observations.

Activity #3 - Ruminating on the Digestive System: 

In this activity, students learn about the differences between ruminants and non-ruminants. Specifically, a cow and a horse are used, respectively. Students learn about how these animals are similar, but different, and the role digestion and absorption have in digestive systems. Worksheets help students walk through the different components of each animals digestive system and how they are different. 

Activity #4 - Ruminating on the Digestive System, Continued: 

Now that the students have learned about the digestive system in ruminants and non-ruminants, they will head outside or to the gym with their teacher to learn just how large these digestive systems are. Students will use chalk to draw out the stomach, small intestine, cecum, and large intestine for both the cow and the horse, but instead of drawing them all curled up on the inside of the animal like they are on the worksheet, students will uses paces to pace out the entire length of each organ - helping students to connect to how complex and large the digestive system really is!

Activity #5 - Classroom Assessment Technique: 

Students will be asked to complete a 1 minute paper where they write down 2-4 things they learned about the digestive systems of hooved mammals. Students will have the opportunity to share their findings through a think-pair-share with a neighbor.

Module 4 - Soil V3 FINAL

Available on the SDSU Extension website: https://extension.sdstate.edu/investigating-rangeland-systems-and-practices 

Module 4 has been developed and teaches students about soil through the following activities:

Activity #1 - Soil Formation Factors and Soil Profiles: 

Students are introduced to CLORPT - short for the factors that influence soil formation (climate, organisms, relief, parent material, and time). The teacher goes over a short PowerPoint presentation to assist in his/her teaching this material. Then, groups of students are assigned one of the 5 soil formation factors and use flip chart paper to communicate to other students (flipped classroom idea), what their soil formation factor was. A handout is provided to students that helps them critically think about their own development over time - where they have lived (i.e. climate), what they eat (i.e. organisms), where on the landscape they live (i.e. relief/topography), parents (i.e. parent material), and how old they are (i.e. time). Students also discuss the difference between climate and weather, what organisms help soil develop, and how nature moves material around. Students also learn about soil profiles using a PowerPoint presentation, and then create a mnemonic device to remember the soil horizon orders. 

Activity #2 - South Dakota Soils: 

Students use several handouts that were developed for this activity, to learn about the state soil of South Dakota - the Houdek soil. A handout is provided that gives an overview and characteristics about Houdek soil, where it is found in South Dakota, and the importance it has to agriculture. A corresponding handout walks students through several questions and the end result of this activity is that students create their own Houdek soil profile, combining what they've learned about soil formation factors, the state soil, and soil horizons. 

Activity #3 - Soil Glue and Soil Food Web: 

In this activity, students dive deeper into one of the soil formation factors - organisms, specifically, fungi. Fungi produce a protein called glomalin, which acts as s soil glue. Using a demonstration of two different clods of soil - for example, one from a well-managed rangeland versus a field that has experienced tillage - the teacher and students walk through putting each soil in a large mason jar, on a piece of wire that is lowered into water in the jar. Students take notes and record their observations of differences they observe - which soil type has more "glue"? Why is soil glue important? Next, the teacher has a discussion with the students about different types of organisms - primary producers, decomposers, predators - and asks students to create their own soil food web. The soil food web exercise brings together ideas from Modules 1, 2, and 3 - students will draw a food web in rangeland, consider other animals that are present, and refer back to how plants use photosynthesis to create their own food. 

Activity #4 - Classroom Assessment Technique: 

There are two available classroom assessments for this Module. The 3-2-1 format is used for Activities #1 and #2 - students write down 3 ideas that were presented, 2 examples of how they can use their knowledge of soils, and 1 unresolved/"muddiest" point that they didn't quite understand. The teacher can review the "muddiest" point with students, to help clarify their understanding. The Focused Listening format is used for Activity #3, and has teachers select an important topic or concept that was covered. Students are asked to list important words and phases about the selected topic. Review of the findings allows the teacher to fill in any key concepts that students missed.

Krista Ehlert (PI) and Jessalyn Bachler (Co-PI), a SDSU Extension range field specialist, had an in person meeting on 8/30/2021 with Chris Bohlander, Principal of Mobridge Middle School and Sam Borah, Middle School Science Teacher at the Mobridge Middle School (Mobridge, SD). We discussed having Mobridge Middle School be a pilot for the curriculum we have developed. Bohlander and Borah were very excited to hear about the curriculum we had developed, and were excited to implement it in the middle school science curriculum. Plans were discussed for how to get started, and when to host a field day with the students. 

A follow up Zoom meeting was held on 9/29/2021 to address questions that Borah had about the curriculum. 

Jessalyn Bachler, SDSU Extension Range Field Specialist, went to Mobridge Middle School on 10/20/2021 to assist with Module 1 and Module 2. The students were excited to have an expert in the classroom, and were also eager to share the outputs that they had from Module 1 - posters of different types of rangelands across the world! 

Krista Ehlert (PI) and Jessalyn Bachler (Co-PI), a SDSU Extension range field specialist, conducted a field visit with Chris Bohlander, Principal of Mobridge Middle School and Sam Borah, Middle School Science Teacher at the Mobridge Middle School (Mobridge, SD) as part of the Mobridge Middle School Pilot. A local rancher, as well as Bohlander (who also ranches outside of his Principal job), helped discuss with students the importance of what they do as ranchers from their perspective, while Ehlert and Bachler taught students about different rangeland plants and animals, as well as discussed how healthy rangelands provide many ecosystem services. A cattle dog demonstration was also conducted, so that students could learn the importance of low stress livestock handling. Overall, students were extremely excited about the field day and learning about rangelands, and the educators and ranchers involved also communicated that it was a success.

Module 5 - Foraging

Available on the SDSU Extension website: https://extension.sdstate.edu/investigating-rangeland-systems-and-practices 

Module 5 has been developed and teaches students about rangeland foraging through the following activities:

Activity #1 - Rangelands Provide Food: 

Students are exposed to the idea of foraging in rangelands - how rangelands provide food for humans, in addition to providing forage for livestock and wildlife. Approximately 12 rangeland species are used for this activity, and students either look at pressed plant mounts or utilize a grassland plants identification book to look at pictures of the selected species. A PowerPoint has also been created that describes different rangeland plants and their foraging value and the value that the Native American Lakota people place on that plant. 

Students are then encouraged to taste several food items that come from rangeland plants - for example, from sunflowers we can get sunflower flour to make sunflower crackers. A handout is included in the module, for students to fill in different characteristics of each plant - livestock value, wildlife value, foraging value/Lakota importance, and whether they would eat it again!

Available on the SDSU Extension website: https://extension.sdstate.edu/investigating-rangeland-systems-and-practices 

We developed 15 video blogs ("vlogs") that feature ranchers in the NRC across a variety of timepoints in the ranching and beef cattle world.

We relied on a contractor to conduct short vlogs with producers in the NCR. This avenue allowed us to have control over the consistency of the video footage - the quality, sound, etc. Moreover, vlogs served as a “day in the life” for students to see and hear what a rancher does and allows students to be exposed to different ways of knowing, ultimately challenging their way of thinking and demonstrating multi-faceted problem solving. 

A description of each vlog episode is below and includes a note about compatible modules.

Episode 1: Winter Feeding Cattle

Episode 1 teaches students how beef cattle producers feed cattle during the winter, and the video also discusses livestock nutrition.

Compatible with Module 3: Animals

Episode 2: Foraging

Episode 2 teaches students about several rangeland plants that can be foraged for in SD, including how to identify the plant and what part of the plant is edible.

Compatible with Module 5: Foraging

Episode 3: Native American Uses

Episode 3 explains how Native Americans historically used rangeland plants in everyday life.

Compatible with Module 5: Foraging

Episode 4: Branding

Episode 4 discusses how beef calves are vaccinated, castrated, and branded.

Compatible with Module 3: Animals

Episode 5: Direct Marketing

Episode 5 explains several products that can be produced on farms and ranches, and how they can be marketed directly to the consumer.

Compatible with Module 3: Animals

Episode 6: Horsepower on the Ranch

Episode 6 shows students how horses are trained to be used on cattle ranches for work purposes.

Compatible with Module 3: Animals

Episode 7: Cow-Calf Production Cycle

Episode 7 explains what the production cycle is for a common cow-calf producer.

Compatible with Module 3: Animals

Episode 8: Everyday Ranching

Episode 8 describes what a typical day is like for a rancher.

Compatible with Module 3: Animals

Episode 9: Making Hay

Episode 9 explains why and how hay is used for livestock.

Compatible with Module 2: Plants

Episode 10: Farming with Irrigation

Episode 10 covers how farmers use irrigation to grow different kinds of crops.

Compatible with Module 2: Plants

Episode 11: Farming 101

Episode 11 teaches students how crops are grown and harvested in a dryland setting (without irrigation).

Compatible with Module 4: Soils

Episode 12: Grazing on Federal Lands

Episode 12 shows how ranchers utilize federal land for grazing, along with how rangelands are used for a multitude of uses – recreation such as hunting and hiking, and also livestock production.

Compatible with Module 1: Overview of Rangelands

Episode 13: Problems in Range Management

Episode 13 explains some common problems on rangelands that ranchers experience, such as invasive species and lack of water.

Compatible with Module 1: Overview of Rangelands

Episode 14: Grazing Management

Episode 12 teaches students about a grazing management system that is used to promote rangeland health.

Compatible with Module 2: Plants

Episode 15: Types of Rangelands

Episode 11 teaches students about the different types of rangelands that can be found across South Dakota including prairies, badlands, and the Black Hills.

Compatible with Module 1: Overview of Rangelands