1. WELCOME and Introduction
L.E.A.P Aquaponics Farms
WELCOME and Introduction

2. Who are we?
Matthew R. Bice – Public Health Education Nate Bickford- Biology Dick Meyer – Education Administration Angela Hollman – Information Technology Sonja Bickford – Business Jourdan Ringenberg (Graduate Assistant)

3. Health and Wellness Health – Future of society
Impact
Economic
Psychological
Physiological
Wellness – Encompasses much more than physical health!
Physical, Social, Emotional, Intellectual, Occupational, and Spiritual,
Increasingly popular trend of words as it relates to children

4. Health & Wellness Mindfulness Health Consciousness
The quality or state of being conscious or aware of something
Mental state achieved by focusing on awareness of the present moment
Accepting feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations
Typically used as therapeutic technique
Health Consciousness
The awareness of one’s health

5. “Growing” Literature tells us Growing impacts Health outcomes
Health mindfulness
Energy intake vs expenditure (nutrition)
Physical activity levels

6. Aquaponics Activities
Ways to incorporate the aquaponics growing system into the classroom

7. What is Aquaponics

8. Hydroponics Benefit Versatile growing locations
Sterile and controlled environment.
Crops grow two times faster than soil gardening
Recirculating system
hydroponicsgrower.org

9. Hydroponics
Benefit
Little space…
Not a problem

10. Hydroponics
Cost
Need to add nutrients
industrial fertilizers
Large amount of fresh water needed (Blidariu et al 2011).
Economic problems:
Hydroponics systems cost more to start up and maintain.
Limited to the high cash crops.
Tomato's
Small error or miss calculation in any one element can mean a big loss in profit (Benton 1982

12. Aquaculture
Benefits
Aquaculture accounts for more than $100 million in revenue in the mollusk industry alone (Food and agricultural 1998).
Farmed fish and shellfish has more than doubled in the past 15 years (Naylor 2000).
Aquaculture can be Made in many areas.

13. Aquaculture
Cost
Land-based aquaculture systems like hatcheries often require huge amounts of water to be pumped into their systems.
High amounts of ammonia, nitrates and nitrites produced as waste (Benton 1982).

14. Aquaculture
Cost
Farming carnivorous species requires large inputs of wild fish for feed.
Reduce wild fish abundance:
Habitat modification,
Wild seed stock collection
Disease
ecological impacts (Naylor 2000).
Pollution
Number one vector for aquatic invasive species (Welcomme 1992; Dextrase et al.1999).
In the 1970’s bighead and silver carp (Chick 2001).
A parasitic worm from South Africa was introduced into California in the 1980’sand had detrimental effect on abalone. (Kuris and culver 1999).

15. What is Aquaponics
Aquaponics is the combination of Hydroponics and Aquaculture: growing of fish and plants together in a closed recirculating system.
The water from the fish tanks is filtered through media (gravel, sand, ect.) that house bacteria. The bacteria in turn break down the fish waste to nitrate and nitrite which is then transported via water to the agricultural produce (Nichols et al 2012).
tucsonap.org

16. Aquaponics
Benefits
Take the cost of aquaculture fish waste now is used to feed plants
Take the cost hydro needing lots fertilizer
Now the benefits of both aquaculture and hydroponic can be found in aquaponics
VERY SUSTAINABLE
Ultimately aquaponics will aid in conservation and holds great promise in sustainability

17. Aquaponics Benefits in sustainability
Increasing food security (Carney 2001)
Decreasing food deserts in urban (McClintock 2011) and rural areas (Mohamad et al. 2013)
Improve environmental performance, as it can decrease the distance food has to travel, decrease the amount of food wasted (McClintock 2010; Smith et al. 2013).
Increase community and economic development by increasing profitability, diversifying revenue streams and bringing in alternative business models (Goodman 2011).

18. Aquaponics Benefits Nutrient recycling from the fish wastewater
This study found that an aquaponics system can remove up to 69% of nitrogen from that particular system (Garber and Junge 2009).
Produce edible fruits.
Lekang 1999:
Compared different tomato varieties in aquaponics and conventional hydroponics and found that the four varieties of tomatoes had higher fruit yields in an aquaponics system (Lekang 1999).
Wegner 2003:
Showed that all varieties of tomatoes yielded more fruit in an aquaponics system than in both the soil culture and hydroponics system (Wegner 2003).

26. Curriculum Ecosystem Bacteria Nutrient flow Energy flow
Water chemistry ?

27. Intro to Seeds Objectives: Students will identify the parts of a seed
Students will compare seeds and organs of different plants

28. Intro to Seeds Materials: Activity: Spoon
Various fruits, vegetables, herbs
Activity:
Observe and compare plants in aquaponics system
In groups, dissect and compare seeds of various plants

29. Germination Objectives: Learn different ways to grow seeds
Learn what plants need to grow
Compare sprouting process of different seeds
Compare roots of different plants

30. Germination Materials: Activity: Seed types -- Ziploc bags
Coconut fiber Paper towels
water
Activity:
Split seeds: aquaponics system, coconut fiber, and wet paper towel in Ziploc bag
Observe the differences in growing methods over time
Transplant sprouted seeds to system and continue monitoring differences

31. Scientific Method Objectives: Expand upon germination lesson
Introduce the process of asking and testing questions

32. Scientific Method Materials: Activity:
Seeds planted in germination lesson
Activity:
Have students think of a question
Students write hypothesis for their question
Students observe plants on daily basis and record observations

33. Ecosystem Objectives:
Students will understand there are different ecosystems
Students will define abiotic and biotic factors within ecosystem

34. Ecosystem Materials: Activity: Hat with paper of each ecosystem on it
Define ecosystem and discuss main types
Discuss abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) factors
In groups, pick an ecosystem type out of a hat

35. Ecosystem Activity continued:
Have groups list all the factors in their ecosystem
Each student will play a different role (factor) in their ecosystem, write 2-3 statements about their role, and how it affects ecosystem
Groups will present ecosystem, each factor expressing how it relates to the system

36. Animal Behavior Objectives: Students will define animal behavior
Students will observe basic fish behavior
Students will understand what an ethogram is and its use in observing animals

37. Animal Behavior I Materials: Activity: Paper
Define animal behavior and discuss behavior they know of common animals
Observe fish and notice behaviors
Create table of behaviors (ethogram) and help students define each behavior

38. Example Ethogram Behavior Definition Swimming
Fish is using body to move further than body length
Resting
Lying still at bottom or side of tank
Active
Fish is moving some, but not enough to be swimming

39. Nutrition Objectives:
Students will compare the factors for survival between plants and animals
Students will define nutrition
Students will understand the food groups and how each food effects the body

40. Nutrition Materials: Activity: None
Define the food groups and how they effect the body
Identify the food components of the system
In groups, imagine a meal they could create using the system
Identify food group’s and effects on body
Can affect the body physically, mentally, emotionally. Have students give examples of their favorite foods and discuss as a class how they might make them feel. Discuss what is missing from the aquaponics system to create a meal.