Aquaponics in the Classroom

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Do you want to see what a STEM Installation entails? Aquaponics USA installed three FFGS-40 STEM Food Growing Systems, each with an extra 120 gallon fish tank, into three inner-city Elementary schools in Tucson, Arizona. You can see videos of two of those school installations on our Aquaponics USA TV Channel or right here.

And you need SUPPORT!

We are here to back you up all the way, and you can Call Us as often as you feel necessary for endless Tech and System Support. We are planning to create a Data Base of Schools that are running our STEM Teaching & Food Growing Systems so Teachers and students from around the U.S. can get together to share ideas, accomplishments, curriculum and projects.

Here’s another idea. We’ve spoken with The Global Schoolhouse who have said they are interested in our proposed project. Needless to say, this project is still in the design stages, but once it is up and running, what we envision is a world-wide network of K-12 schools with Aquaponics STEM Teaching & Food Growing Systems. We want to link up all of these schools so they can share ideas, projects, curriculum and experiences. This would create a network of excited and motivated students communicating with each other through the internet. Then Aquaponics STEM Teaching & Food Growing System Classrooms would branch out to include yet another subject--communication and advanced computer technology.

How else can you get an Aquaponics System?

One way to get a system is to build it yourself; and our Aquaponics 101, 30 Page, 7 Part Tutorial will tell you exactly how to do that. Building your system could be a fun quarter’s project all by itself. You could also convert a Hydroponics System into an Aquaponics System or go on a scavenger hunt to acquire some of your components. What’s important here is that you get a System however you can. If it’s through the gorilla construction method that’s just great as long as it works.

The advantage of buying a complete ready-to-go Aquaponics STEM Teaching & Food Growing System is you know it's going to work and it's going to work well. Right now there is an unprecedented opportunity to get Government Grants due to the Coronavirus Pandemic Emergency Funds for Schools. Follow the Instructions below to make your Request for the massive $122 Billion windfall of Funds for Schools through the ARP ESSER (American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief) Program.

Go to GlobalSchoolNet.org to explore and become a Member. This is the place where students are linked “around the world”.

GlobalSchoolNet.org

Combines education and technology to strengthen communities and benefit humanity. It supports brain-friendly learning and improves academic performance through content-driven collaboration. It engages youth and educators, worldwide, in learning projects that develop science, math, literacy and communication skills, fosters teamwork, civic responsibility and collaboration, encourages workforce preparedness, and creates multi-cultural understanding.

Be sure to Visit our "WHERE TO GET A GRANT" pg!

TEACHERS!

Are you ready to create a STEM Classroom with Aquaponics? Aquaponics is a food growing technology so it's the perfect way to bring Integrated STEM learning into a Classroom.

It integrates Math, Science, Biology, Chemistry and Technology into the fascinating hands-on learning environment of a real, working ecosystem right in your classroom.

What is Aquaponics?

Aquaponics is a hybrid food growing technology combining the best of aquaculture (growing fish) and hydroponics (growing veggies without soil). It’s completely organic because the fish produce natural fertilizer used by the plants and that means no man-made chemicals.

Aquaculture has been around for a long time. The fish that are easiest for novices to grow are Tilapia. Tilapia are tropical fish whose native home is Africa and the Nile River. They are perhaps the oldest farmed fish on the planet as the Egyptians held them captive in natural ponds along the Nile over 4,000 years ago. They are the best fish for a new Aquaponic farmer to raise because they are so tolerant and hardy. They are also one of the fastest growing fish, growing from a small fry to over a one pound meal in about eight months. You raise these delicious fish in a Tank. It only takes 1½ pounds of inexpensive fish food to grow one pound of fish.

The fish tank and the grow bed are inter-linked. The water is pumped from the fish tank to the raised Grow Bed and gravity flows back to the Fish Tank. The fish produce ammonia and with the help of naturally occurring beneficial bacteria, the ammonia changes into nitrate thereby becoming the plants’ natural fertilizer. In turn, the plants clean the water for the fish by absorbing the nitrate. It’s a symbiotic relationship–natures way when left undisturbed by humans.

This is why Aquaponics STEM Food Growing Systems can turn ordinary classrooms into STEM Classrooms in a matter of hours.

TEACHERS!

Bringing a STEM Teaching & Food Growing System into a classroom with younger children is like bringing in magic.

They are simply amazed by being part of a living ecosystem.

Watch the scrolling images below to see how Aquaponics STEM Food Growing Systems bring classrooms to life.

3 Elementary Schools in Tucson AZ are running Aquaponics STEM Food Growing Systems in their schools.

This Video is Part 1 of a series called “Aquaponics USA Travels to Tucson, Arizona” and it features the building, installation and testing of one of three of our STEM Food Growing Systems, the FFGS-40, that went into the Davis Bilingual Elementary School in the inner city of Tucson, Arizona.

How does Aquaponics Work in a Classroom?

Your students aren’t just reading, writing and discussing their subject whether it’s Science, AgriScience, Agriculture, Math, Chemistry, Biology or Culinary Arts–they are EXPERIENCING their subject. They are participating in the operation of an Ecosystem that is in perpetual and sustainable action right before their eyes. Students of all ages from Elementary to Middle to High School find this interactive experience with an Aquaponics system to be invigorating. Some studies have shown students with an Aquaponics STEM Classroom System score higher in math and science because they are more motivated.

What do you Need to bring Aquaponics into your Classroom?

You need an Aquaponics System, and that’s where Aquaponics USA comes into the picture. Our System Engineer is a retired Aerospace Engineer who designs state-of-the-art, durable, long lasting Aquaponics STEM Teaching & Food Growing Systems.

These Systems out shine every other system on the market for durability, strong construction and ease of use. But most importantly in these challenging economic times, we under-price every other System on the market today on a per square foot basis. What’s more, you have lots of sizes from which to choose.

If you are space challenged, our EZ Reach, EZ-15 pictured above (the number indicates square feet of Grow Bed) is the system for you; but if space is not an issue, and you want to grow food for the school cafeteria, then you’ll want the FGS-44R or an FGS-44L. Get two of them and you have 88 sq. ft. of Aquaponics growing area.

These Aquaponics STEM Teaching & Food Growing Systems are not complicated. They can be up and running in short order, present you and your students with a mellow learning curve and come complete with everything you need to start your Classroom Lab (Grow Lights are optional). You assemble them using our easy to follow and detailed Assembly and Start Up Manual, connect to electricity, add water, fish and seedlings, and you have an Ecosystem. Aquaponics is an Integrative Course of Study for several age levels across several subjects including Agriculture, Science, Biology, Agriscience, Business (selling food to your own cafeteria) and Culinary Arts just to name a few.

Thank you for visiting our Aquaponics in the Classroom Page. We would love to build the perfect STEM Teaching & Food Growing System for your Classroom. Be sure to give us lots of lead time because we're happy to say, "We're swamped with Orders right now!"

And make sure you also visit our "STEM Resources" and "Where To Get an Aquaponics Grant" Pages.

Click our YouTube Banner to see more of our Videos. We have several in the can ready to be edited so we'll be back in business with YouTube soon.

Aquaponics STEM Food Growing Systems in the Classroom

Introducing Miss Swish,

Our Video Aquaponics Instructor for Grades 1-3. She will teach your little ones everything they need to know about Aquaponics using her magic chalkboard while keeping their attention with humor and fun.

The “Miss Swish Video Aquaponics Classroom” is still a work in progress. We are hoping to debut her first instructional aquaponics Videos by mid 2022. She will be working with a FGS-20 System.

Miss

Swish

This is the EZ-Reach STEM Teaching & Food Growing System.

It's a perfect classroom system especially if space is limited because it can sit against a wall and allows students to reach across the Grow Beds. Elementary students would need to stand on a stool to plant and harvest. This Aquaponics System has rectangular 11 sq. ft. Grow Beds, which make this EZ-Reach possible and is why we call them the EZ-15 and the EZ-22.

Our bundled STEM School Packages that are at the bottom of every System Page contain everything you will need to turn your classroom into an Edible Schoolroom with a combination living Eco-System and Science Lab within it.

You get the Water Heater, the Automatic Fish Feeder, the Live Fingerlings, the Tilapia Food for one year and all the accessories you'll need to make this amazing Integrative STEM Classroom transformation.

The EZ-15 is the smallest of five different Aquaponics STEM Teaching & Food Growing Systems we offer on our STEM Teaching & Food Growing System Pages. Our Systems are differentiated by their sizes, and we've designed them to fit almost every possible space. Scroll to the bottom of each Growing System Page to find our STEM Packages for the EZ-15, EZ-22, FGS-20, FGS-44R and FGS-44L.

This Video is Part 2 of the series called “Aquaponics USA Travels to Tucson, Arizona” and it features the building, installation and testing of one of the three of our STEM Teaching & Food Growing Systems, the FGS-40, that went into the Manzo Elementary School in the inner city of Tucson, Arizona. We have since updated our Aquaponics Systems including the shown FGS-40 Systems, which is now called the FGS-44L.

We installed three of the same systems in three different schools, but each installation took a different configuration and a different aspect of the installation is captured in these videos of the first two school installations. If you watch these installations carefully, you will get a real good idea of how these systems were installed.

EZ-15

Your Students Will Race You & Each Other To Their Aquaponics

STEM Teaching & Food Growing Classroom

These Classrooms become lively excursions into Science, Chemistry, Math, Biology, Horticulture, Botony, Nutrition, Ecology, Aquaculture, Culinary Arts and Gardening, and they can be created to serve students of all ages.

What the Manzo Elementary School in Tucson has done with their FGS-44L STEM Teaching & Food Growing System with their Bilingual Elementary students is beyond amazing. Go to Aquaponics STEM Classrooms In Action Part 1 to see it.

Just think what's possible with Middle and High School students. Go over to the Aquaponics STEM Classrooms in Action Part 3 to see what's happening at Rosamond High.

AQUAPONICS IN THE CLASSROOM

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You need more than an Aquaponics System–you need Curriculum!

We provide you with three informative Manuals including the Assembly and Start Up Manual, which is A Training Manual for Teachers, the How to Operate Your Specific System and the Resources & Curriculum Ideas For All Grade Levels.

TEACHERS, HERE IT IS! Our popular and very informative Aquaponics 101 E-Book by Oliver Duffy in a Clickable pdf Format so you can download and Print it yourself. Up until now, it has only been available on our website under the Education Pull Down Menu. But Teachers have requested that we make it more accessible for Classroom use.

It comes with accompanying Quizzes and a Completion Certificate and is a duplicate of what's on our site complete with Grace's original Cartoon Character representing Oliver, the Aerospace Engineer, an Aquaponics Expert.

Read through this Book that was written so beginners can avoid common errors in building and running Aquaponics Systems, and you and your students willl be off to a good start at becoming Aquaponics Gardners.

This Book is our Gift to Teachers who are performing one of the most important jobs on the Planet--Teaching our children who represent the future of our World.

An Aquaponics STEM Teaching & Food Growing System can be used to demonstrate various principles taught in technology, plant life cycles and their structure, how to make effective use of recycled materials, low-tech/high-yield gardening, ecological issues, biology, chemistry, physics and sustainable farming. A system can be used to demonstrate in real time how the Nitrogen Cycle works, the parts of a seed, its germination and the growth rate of seedlings. The subjects are endless. Several Culinary Arts students are learning to grow the food they're being taught to prepare while supplying their school cafeteria with healthy fish and organic vegetables. This takes the “Farm to School” programs that have been popping up all over the nation to another level.

Not only the students but the Instructors benefit as well. Suddenly your ordinary classroom becomes a laboratory where you can experience hands-on teaching. Some have created entire programs around this technology, erecting massive greenhouses and interacting with their communities to replenish natural marine populations into their natural habitats. The possibilities are almost infinite.

This book, Aquaponics Food Production Systems, which is being given away for free via the above pdf is a great Resource and has an exciting Chapter 22 called Aquaponics as an Educational Tool. You can read that Chapter alone by clicking on the pdf Link above. Here's a quote from the authors who say:

"Aquaponics can promote scientific literacy and provide a useful tool for teaching the natural sciences at all levels, from primary through to tertiary education. An aquaponics classroom model system can provide multiple ways of enriching classes in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and the day-to-day maintenance of an aquaponics can also enable experi- ential learning. Aquaponics can thus become an enjoyable and effective way for learners to study STEM content, and can also be used for teaching subjects such as business and economics, and for addressing issues like sustainable development, environmental science, agriculture, food systems, and health. All teachers strongly agreed that bringing an aquaponics unit into the classroom is inspiring for the students and led to greater interaction between students and teachers, thereby contributing to a dialogue about science."

FGS-44R

Below are the Covers of the 3 Manuals that come with each of our Systems. We are showing the Assembly and Start-Up and How to Operate Manuals for the EZ-22 STEM Teaching & Food Growing System, but each of our Systems has it's own Assembly and Start-Up and How to Operate Manuals. We are not connecting you to these Manual pdf's on this website as the information contained in them is proprietary, and only shared with our Customers who purchase our Systems.

What's more, right here on our website, we have published a 30 Page document in 7 Parts called Aquaponics 101 by our System Engineer, Oliver Duffy, with Quizzes after each Part and a Completion Certificate. You can send your students here to our webpage and give them their Reading Assignment and Quizes or you can Click on the new E-Book in pdf Format below so you have this informative document to teach from in your Classroom. This E-Book includes the Quizzes but not the Answers to the Quizzes, which are on our website after each of the 7 Parts.

Step 1: Determine what you need the ESSER Funds for. See if any other Teachers in your School or District would want to join you in this requst to bring Aquaponics to your School or District. How many Teachers would be involved? How many classes would benefit? How many students would be participating in the Aquaponics Project.

Step 2: Choose the STEM Teaching & Food Growing System or Systems you would like to fund with ARP ESSER Funds.

Step 3: Follow the Five Steps for Getting A Quote from us at the top of this page.

Step 4: Get Support from your Administration. In order to receive ESSER funds, your LEA (Local Educational Agency) will need to request them from your SEA (State Educational Agency). This simply means you will need support from your school and district administration. Formalize your funding request to your administration to get started. We have a Snail Mailing we would be happy to send out to your Administration upon your request. Email or Call us.

Step 5: Send your ESSER Funding Request to your SEA. Once you have received support from your LEA administration and finalized your needs, your LEA will need to send your ESSER funding request to your SEA. Each SEA may have different procedures, so contact your SEA to get exact details. SEA Contacts are on your Left.

Here are the SEA Contacts for every State

Here's a List of Approved State Plans

Here are Federal Funding Sources as identified by kb.vex.com

n EZ-15

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Introducing Miss Angel, a Teaching Fish

She is our Video Aquaponics Instructor for Grades 2-4. She will teach your little ones everything they need to know about Aquaponics using her magic White Board while keeping their attention with humor and fun.

The "Miss Angel Video Aquaponics Classroom" is a work in progress. We are planning to Debut her first instructional Aquaponics Videos by late 2022.

She will be working with one of our EZ-15 STEM Teaching & Food Growing Systems in our new Classroom. Videoes to be on our YouTube Channel with excerpts on our TikTok Channel.

TEACHERS, are you ready to Bring Your Classroom To Life?

We have a 36 page clickable pdf that tells you everything you need to know to create a STEM Classroom using our STEM Teaching & Food Growing Systems. Click on the Cover to the right to open it.

You can also go to our "Aquaponics In The Classroom" Page and check out our "Where To Get A Grant" Page.

It's amazing to see how Aquaponics is being embraced by our U.S. schools as the STEM Movement takes off.

Look at our STEM Teaching & Food Growing System offerings by clicking below. We offer five different Systems of various sizes and configurations to fit in every imaginable kind of space. Scroll to the bottom of each of these pages where our STEM Packages are located:

Below are all of our Linked System Pages:

EZ-15, EZ-22, FGS-20, FGS-44R, FGS-44L

It's time to start teaching the most important subject on our planet--How To Grow Food!