FarmBeats for Students
Today’s farms are beginning to look a lot more like smart cities. Growers use innovative tools like sensors, computer vision, and artificial intelligence (AI) to acquire a deeper understanding of their crops. These methods help farmers use data to make better decisions, discover inefficiencies, and unlock new insights into food production and resource management. The FarmBeats for Students program brings these modern techniques into the hands of today’s learners.
Program overview
The program combines an affordable hardware kit with curated curriculum and activities designed to give students hands-on experience in precision agriculture. The learning progression enables students to easily see the impact of modern tools and the opportunities within agriculture.
Through the FarmBeats for Students program, students build a garden monitoring system and learn about AI, data analysis, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Section 1: Gathering data through sensors
Students assemble a plant monitoring kit, consisting of a mini-computer equipped with atmospheric and environmental sensors. The kit enables them to gather data about the health of their crops. Using Microsoft Excel, students analyze their sensor data and construct a system to react to soil conditions.
Section 2: Analyzing “big data”
Next, students are introduced to data visualization tools in Excel. They engage with big data sets to extract intelligence and make decisions about the best locations for a greenhouse.
Section 3: Unlocking data insights with AI
Finally, students build their own machine learning models, applying the technique to predict nutrient imbalances in their plants and identify pests in their garden.
Alignment to academic standards
The FarmBeats for Students curriculum is aligned to AI4K12’s AI education guidelines that define what every student should know about AI. The curriculum is also aligned to these standards, agricultural concepts, and performance objectives:
- CSTA Standards
- National AFNR Common Career Technical Core Standards
- Next Generation Science Standards
- Common Core State Standards for high school math
Get started
The curriculum package and hardware kits are all you need to get started.
Download the free curriculum and other resources:
- Get everything (this is a large file)
- Don’t need everything? Download the individual packages:
FarmBeats for Students YouTube channel (includes how to videos)
Purchase affordable hardware kits
Want more?
Integrate other hands-on STEM projects into your classroom: Try projects such as analyzing windspeed, increasing power with wind turbines, or measuring water quality. Learn more.
Go deeper with FarmBeats for Students: For advanced users looking to build off the FarmBeats for Students platform, the codebase and technical documentation are available in an open-source repository on GitHub. Access here.
Use the Excel workbook in Microsoft Teams: Create an assignment (FarmBeats for Students) in Microsoft Teams for Education and assign the Excel workbook to individual or small groups of students in a class. Groups turn in one copy of the assignment that is graded separately or together. Learn how.
Use Flip in the classroom: Flip is a free app from Microsoft where educators create safe, online groups for students to express their ideas asynchronously in short video, text, and audio messages. Promote peer-to-peer learning in your classroom while using the Introduction to the FarmBeats for Students curriculum. Learn how to get started.
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