Mobile Controlled Environment Agriculture Technician Education

夏威夷群岛目前90%的食物都是进口的。因此，它需要扩大当地的粮食生产。该项目旨在通过创建一个移动可控环境农业（CEA）温室来满足这一需求，并用它来教授学生CEA技能。移动温室可以部署在具有挑战性的环境中（例如，火山爆发、飓风、流行病），从而提高夏威夷孤立社区的复原力。此外，这个移动CEA温室将通过将持续的文化和“aina”（土地）价值观（如可持续性）联系起来，增加未被充分代表的夏威夷原住民学生在STEM领域的参与。新的CEA课程将吸引来自农业和技术专业的学生进行基于问题的学习。实践环境，加上来自不同学科的学生的参与，可以提高学生的批判性思维能力和在多学科团队中工作的能力。CEA课程的完成及其基于问题的学习方法，有可能提高参与学生在一系列工作和行业中的就业能力。夏威夷社区学院将与行业顾问合作，使用一个带有商业拖车的新型隔热冷藏海运集装箱，设计和建造移动式CEA温室，并升级现有课程，将CEA知识和技能纳入其中。CEA课程将侧重于建立、自动化和优化资源、操作和技术支持的移动温室的产量。温室环境将为新的PBL教学法提供一个强有力的背景，它将涉及来自不同学科的学生，目标是提高学生的技能和就业能力，为广泛的雇主服务。移动温室将被带到初中和高中，以提高技术的知名度，为受过培训的人提供各种就业机会，并展示夏威夷农业和技术项目整合的潜力。项目年度评估报告的结果将用于调整活动和衡量成功。这些结果也将告知教育、农业、工程和公众的利益相关者。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Hawaiian Islands currently import 90% of its food. Consequently, it needs to expand local food production. This project aims to address this need by creating a mobile Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) greenhouse and use it to teach students CEA skills. The mobile greenhouse can be deployed in challenging environments (e.g., volcanic eruption, hurricane, pandemic), thus improving the resiliency of Hawaii’s isolated communities. In addition, this mobile CEA greenhouse will increase participation of native Hawaiian students underrepresented in STEM fields by linking to ongoing cultural and “aina” (land) values such as sustainability. The new CEA curriculum will engage students from agricultural and technology programs in problem-based learning. The hands-on environment, together with involvement of students from different disciplines, can enhance students’ critical thinking skills and the ability to work in multidisciplinary teams. Completion of the CEA curriculum, with its problem-based learning approach, has the potential improve employability of participating students across a range of jobs and industries. Using a new insulated and refrigerated shipping container with a commercial trailer, Hawaii Community College will work with industry advisors to design and build the mobile CEA greenhouse and upgrade existing courses to include CEA knowledge and skills. The CEA curriculum will focus on building, automating, and optimizing the resources, operations, and yield from the technology-enabled mobile greenhouse. The greenhouse environment will provide a strong context for the new PBL pedagogy, which will involve students from different disciplines with the goal of increasing students’ skills and employability with a broad range of employers. The mobile green house will be brought to middle and high schools to enhance visibility of the technology, the varied employment opportunities available to those with training, and showcase the potential of integrating agriculture and technology programs in Hawaii. Results from the project’s annual evaluation reports will be used to adjust activities and measure success. These results will also inform stakeholders in education, agriculture, engineering, and the public. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.