Hands-on Lesson Plans from Midwest Dairy 

We’re excited that Midwest Dairy is sponsoring our summer NIU Engaged Learning Conference – and not only because we’re looking forward to the delicious lunch their sponsorship helps to provide!  

Midwest Dairy is also sharing lesson plans they helped to create, including two complete NGSS high-quality badged units, that are available for everyone. And they’re sponsoring a session at our Engaged Learning Conference in Naperville on June 20. 

Real-world Applications of Science 

Students often have trouble understanding how basic science concepts relate to everyday life and careers. The lessons Midwest Dairy helped to create connect the dots between topics such as DNA or bacteria and their real-world applications. This is exactly the kinds of hands-on, engaged learning we love to promote! 

Show Me the Moo-ney!  

At 12:30 p.m. during our Engaged Learning Conference, Erika Fong will be presenting “Show me the Moo-ney! Determine the Genetics of a CA$H-Cow – Connect Genetics to Real-World Dairy Phenomenon.” This session is ideal for high school science teachers! Attendees will work through a hands-on science lesson to discover how DNA plays a pivotal role in agricultural practices and selective breeding. See the real-world implications of DNA testing as you determine the genetic profiles of individual cattle and assist a farmer in identifying promising breeding candidates. You’ll walk away with a DNA lesson ready for your high school science classroom. 

Free Online Units and Stand-alone Lessons 

This DNA lesson is just one example of the hands-on lessons Midwest Dairy has helped to create! Midwest Dairy has collaborated with the Food and Agriculture Center for Science Education to create free lesson plans and even full units that are Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) badged. View all their dairy-related NGSS lessons here. 

Here are a couple of highlights we can’t wait to try out. 

• Are All Bacteria Harmful? In this high school task, students explore the food ecosystems of two samples of yogurt with different bacteria to figure out which types are harmful and then explore the environmental conditions that allow harmful and less harmful bacteria to thrive. The lesson brings to life four NGSS dimensions through an exploration of everyday food. 

• Spicy Peppers and Milk: This phenomenon explores why milk provides relief after eating spicy peppers. 

• Full Unit – Media Mayhem: Is the production of milk good or bad for the environment? In this high school 5E unit on the dairy food system and sustainability, students explore media claims about the impacts of the dairy sector on the environment to figure out which ones most accurately represent the body of science on the dairy sector’s impacts. Across a series of four modules, students figure out how the components of the dairy food system impact the environment, including pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, climate, and biodiversity. To conclude the unit, students use engineering design processes to evaluate multiple solutions to reduce the dairy sector’s environmental impact.