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 What is AITC?
Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) is a statewide educational
program. Its goal is to help educators, students and the general
population gain a greater awareness of the importance of agriculture in
their
daily lives. The DuPage County Farm Bureau has as its
mission to “Promote agriculture through educational and informational
programming to enhance
the quality of life for our members, while preserving our agricultural
heritage.”
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Our program provides educational materials and
teacher training to school systems across the state. The program focuses
on grades K-8. Its curriculum is designed to be incorporated into
language arts, math, science and social studies lessons.
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Why
do we have AITC?
The DuPage Farm
Bureau’s AITC program uses agriculture as a medium to teach social studies,
language arts, math and science. Students learn about agriculture as they
are learning their other lessons. By using agricultural products and animals
that are familiar to children, such as pigs, soybeans, corn or cows, new
information and ideas will be more meaningful to students and easier to
understand. The importance of agriculture in their everyday life is the
motivation for learning. Educators can use examples from agriculture to
make lessons more interesting and relevant to students. AITC is a wonderful
program for teachers and students to achieve their classroom objectives as
well as meet the
Illinois Learning Standards. AITC also plays a vital role in building
relationships between the members of the DuPage County Agricultural Literacy
Coalition.
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