Sustainable Water Management within Agriculture,Food, and Natural Resources Education

摘要

Water scarcity is a global problem in which, through consumption and eutrophication offreshwater, agriculture has contributed. The impact of water scarcity necessitates research intohow agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) educators can support solutions. A subset ofAFNR educators in the Great Lakes Basin participated in a professional development experiencedesigned to introduce how online, sustainable water management tools could be incorporatedwithin AFNR curricula. Participants were then surveyed about past and future intentions toincorporate the tools. Results indicated teachers planned to increase utilization of sustainablewater management tools by 3.50 days per school year. Qualitative feedback suggested teachersplanned to use the tools to achieve a variety of aims, including teaching about water usage, therelationship between soil and water, and record keeping. Participants were also asked to evaluatethe alignment between sustainable water management tools and AFNR education. Teachersperceived the strongest alignment between sustainable water management tools and EnvironmentalServices Systems and Natural Resources Systems pathways. Findings from this mixed-method studyare discussed using the Model of Teacher Change, including recommendations for futureprofessional development on sustainable water management and research on increasing the abilityof AFNR educators to support water scarcity solutions.