Creating a Sustainable Educational Pipeline for the Controlled Environment Agriculture Workforce through a Remote Dual-Credit High School to College Model

控制环境农业(CEA)，俗称室内农业，正在迅速成为一项被广泛接受的技术，以改善农村社区的食品安全、食品安全和经济发展。新墨西哥州是CEA的理想之地，每年有300多天的日照，土地便宜，对当地新鲜农产品的需求不断增长。新墨西哥州北部是一个历史悠久的农业、西班牙裔和美洲原住民社区，他们往往无法获得发展CEA技术劳动力所需的教育资源。因此，该区域对CEA技术人员的需求为这些农村地区的经济增长和粮食安全提供了机会。圣达菲社区学院(SFCC)的这个为期3年的项目将培训9所农村高中的18名教师，为180名服务不足的学生提供应用科学副学士(A.A.S.)一年级课程的双学分课程。CEA学位。该项目极大地扩展了新墨西哥州各地学校培训地区性CEA劳动力的能力，并为学生进入SFCC并在更短的时间内获得A.S.学位创造了一条渠道。远程教学技术与现场可复制的水培系统相结合，为农村高中的教师和学生提供了混合学习的机会。一个新颖的在线网络将把学生和教师与CEA行业和学术专业人士联系起来，他们不太可能有机会通过传统的高中教育与他们互动。学术渠道，包括强大的实习计划，将确保完成SFCC CEA学位要求的学生准备进入劳动力大军。该项目将通过综合教育和外展努力满足该行业的技术劳动力需求。此外，它还将通过SFCC校园高中教师暑期计划，增加合格的双学分CEA教师数量。来自服务不足社区的三所高中将分别被邀请派遣两名STEM教师参加为期一周的密集暑期研讨会，学习CEA大学入门课程。教师们将准备每年开设两个CEA双学分课程。每所学校都将收到一个复制的交钥匙教室水培系统，用于实践教学，并配有用于远程监控的传感器。在每一批教师完成暑期工作坊后的第一个学年，学生们将在高中教师和SFCC教职员工共同授课的课堂上，利用他们的水培系统参与动手学习。在接下来的几年里，参与课程的高中教师将准备独立教授双学分CEA课程。在该项目的三年中，SFCC的教职员工将每周对教师进行指导。学生实习和暑期研究经验将加强课程并培养工作技能。该项目的独特之处在于，它向服务不足的农村社区提供了21世纪的农业教育和联网机会。该项目将增加当地高中提供的双学分课程的数量，并让当地社区参与粮食主权问题，同时在服务不足的社区创建一支可持续的劳动力队伍。该项目由高级技术教育计划资助，该计划专注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NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), popularly knows as indoor agriculture is rapidly becoming a widely accepted technology to improve food security, food safety, and economic development in rural communities. New Mexico is ideal for CEA with more than 300 days of sun each year, inexpensive land, and growing demand for fresh locally grown produce. Northern New Mexico is a region with historical agricultural Hispanic and Native American communities who often lack access to the educational resources necessary to develop the technical CEA workforce. Thus, the demand for CEA technicians in the region presents an opportunity for economic growth and food security in these rural areas. This 3-year project at Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) will train 18 teachers at 9 rural high schools to provide 180 underserved students with dual-credit courses in the first-year curriculum of the Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree in CEA. The project significantly expands the ability for schools across New Mexico to train a regional CEA workforce and creates a pipeline for students to enter SFCC and earn their A.A.S. degree in reduced time. Remote instructional technologies coupled with on-site, hands-on replicated aquaponics systems provide teachers and students with blended learning opportunities in rural high schools. A novel online network will connect students and teachers with CEA industry and academic professionals whom they would not likely have opportunities to interact with through a conventional high school education. An academic pipeline, including a robust internship program, will ensure that students who complete their SFCC CEA degree requirements are ready to enter the workforce. This project will meet the technical workforce needs of the industry through integrated education and outreach efforts. In addition it will address the opportunity to increase the number of qualified dual-credit CEA instructors through a summer program for high school teachers at the SFCC campus. Three high schools from underserved communities will each be invited to send two STEM teachers to participate in an intensive week-long summer workshop to learn the introductory CEA college curriculum. The teachers will be prepared to deliver two CEA dual-credit courses annually. Each school will receive a replicated turn-key classroom aquaponics system for hands-on practical instruction complete with sensors for remote monitoring. The first academic year after each cohort of teachers completes the summer workshop the students will participate in hands-on learning with their aquaponics system in classes co-taught by the high school teacher and SFCC faculty. In subsequent years participating high school teachers will be prepared to teach the dual-credit CEA curriculum independently. The teachers will be mentored weekly by SFCC faculty and staff throughout the three years of the project. Student internships and summer research experiences will reinforce the curriculum and develop workplace skills. The project is unique in providing twenty-first century agricultural education and networking opportunities to largely underserved rural communities. The project will increase the number of dual-credit classes available in local high schools and engage the local community in food sovereignty issues while creating a sustainable workforce in underserved communities. 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.