Kaitlyn's Reflection

Throughout this project for our Social Studies education class at Salem State University, I have learned a lot more then I expected. I have learned about genetically modified foods a lot in the past, but found some new information out that I was not expecting and which made me pretty excited. After attending University of Vermont for one year, I was able to take a few classes, which were focused around the environment, health issue, global environmental/health issues, and learned a lot of information about GMO’s. Throughout this blog and service-learning project, I was able to find a lot more information regarding the political side to these issues. In my endeavors to do something about this issue, I actually became aware of the fact that Vermont is now attempting to pass a bill that would make it necessary all food products to be labeled if they contained GMO’s. Although there is very little widespread legislation in the U.S. mandating companies and genetically modified food products to be labeled, there seems to be an increasing concern. It makes me upset and somewhat angry that the general public seems to have very little interest or knowledge regarding the food we eat. Just because something is in a food store, on a shelf, or been cleared by the FDA, we should not simply trust it at face value. I think making people aware of the need for labeling (at the very least) is very important. Not until people become more educated about these issues are we going to be able to force and coerce our government to change anything. Vermont has made a huge step forward in asking for GMO’s to be labeled, and it gives me hope that perhaps in the near future more states in New England can follow in Vermont’s footsteps. I will be excited to see how, where, and when these issues will begin to pop up in the United States and it seems that things are slowly starting to move forward which is great!

As Kristen said, we have both decided to do a service-learning project at Tendercrop Farms in Newbury, MA. We have had some issues contacting this farm and talking to someone higher up who can give us exact details about what they would like us to do. Tendercrop Farms is open year round and it is getting especially busy around this time of year as they prepare for spring. It will be exciting to get a first hand glimpse of how a farm runs and help a local farm in our own community.

Service-Learning information:

Tendercrop Farms

108 State Highway, Newbury, MA

01950

(978) 462-6972

If I were to do a service-learning project based around this topic with elementary students, I think it would be a great tie-in to do something very similar to what Kristen and I are doing. I think that teaching students about genetically modified food products might be hard because you do not want to make it too complicated and get too much into the science. If a teacher wanted to teach this subject, I think keeping it as basic and simple as possible is what would be most effective (in grades lower than fourth grade). It would be easy to tie this into a science/plant lesson, a food pyramid lesson, or even a current event project that highlights what is going on in the world right now. This is also a great subject to present both sides. There are very reasonable debates for both sides of genetically modified foods. On one hand, they can be bad, and genetically modified foods may lead to things down the road we cannot even yet foresee. However, on the other side, genetically modified foods could legitimately benefit human beings as we see population growth and need to more efficiently feed increasing amounts of people on the earth in the cheapest ways possible. Hence, this would be a great subject to introduce to students and ask them to take sides on.

In terms of actually introducing the students to a service-learning project regarding this issue, visiting a farm could be a great idea on so many levels. A service-learning project of this kind allows students to learn on a much broader level, spanning far beyond the GMO issue. While visiting a farm students will learn about local markets, local foods, conventional/organic foods, preparing meats and vegetables for sale, gardening, growing plants, different types of plants/vegetables/fruits/meats/animals that are found on farms, plant life cycles, seasons, history, and so much more just based off of one service-learning trip or project. On top of this students are performing a community service that benefits both them and their own communities. Perhaps people of an older generation can even become inspired and interested in learning more about this issue by even seeing these students take an active part in their own community.