Food for Thought Aquaponics Program
About the Food for Thought Program
The Food for Thought Aquaponics Program was developed in partnership with schools in Los Angeles, OurFoods Aquaponics, USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, and the USC Sea Grant Program to provide students and their teachers with tools for integrated environmental and STEM education in K-12 classrooms.
Aquaponics is a system that combines aquaculture and hydroponics. Fish waste supplies nutrients for plants, through the work of microbes, and the plants, in turn, purify the water for the fish. Aquaponics is a model of sustainable urban farming that uses significantly less water and produces no waste. These platforms are a project-based learning approach to increase student knowledge of food options and provide a deeper understanding of core science topics.
In urban Los Angeles, where most of the students live, there is little evidence of where their food originates and often fresh produce is difficult to find. The Aquaponics program provides training, supplies, and materials, including an aquaponic tank system, fish, and plants for the classroom. The Aquaponics Program team then works together to support educators and their classrooms in learning to start and maintain their systems from delivery through harvest.
For more information, please contact Maria Madrigal, mdmadrig@usc.edu.
Blog Posts
Microbes & Fish Poop:
Students Explore Urban Farming Through Aquaponics
Read the Microbes and Fish Poop Blog Post
Fish Food for Thought
Lesson Plans and Curriculum
The Aquaponics program includes 6- 12th grade curriculum integrating the following topics:
- History of aquaponics
- Water Nitrogen cycle
- Microbes (Lesson Plan: Mastering Microbes)
- Inhabitants of an Aquaponics System: Fish, Microbes and Plants (AquaPOWER Video)
- Engineering (Lesson Plan: Design and Test an Air Lift Siphon)
- Water Chemistry (AquaPOWER Video)
- pH
- Photosynthesis – primary production
- Fish – anatomy and physiology; aquaculture
- Plant and fish physiology
- Elemental cycling
- Food and the Environment
- Food Deserts and Food Equity
- Careers in aquaponics
- Science of Siphoning (PDF)
Presentations
Aquaponics: Moving Towards Urban Sustainability (PDF)
National Science Teachers Association, March 2017
Water & The Aquaponics System (PDF)
Food for Thought: K-12 Aquaponics Program, March 2017
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