The U.S. hydroponics market is estimated at $6.8 billion this year and yields 27.08% share in the global market. Overall, the global market for hydroponics is estimated at $25.2 billion this year, and is projected to reach $36.3 billion by 2027. With numbers like these, now is a great time to add educational hydroponics systems to your classroom. Doing so can help expose your students to a variety of in-demand careers. They can also expose students to relevant discussions on sustainability and food scarcity.
What impact could hydroponics make on your classroom? Here are the top 5 benefits of an educational hydroponics system:
Engage students with immediate hands-on learning opportunities
An educational hydroponics system will be one of the first things students notice when walking into a classroom. With immediate curiosity, students will be excited to learn about this new indoor garden. Today’s students will enjoy the technology, immediate feedback and the chance to take the lead with this new experience.
Teaching relevant agriculture topics for any age
Hydroponics is appealing to a variety of age groups. You can use hydroponics to introduce elementary school students to the topic, help middle school students build their own systems, or teach secondary and post-secondary students growth stages, essential nutrients, economics and budgeting. Hydroponics can be a great way to garner student interest in relevant careers.
Cutting costs while allowing for cross-departmental collaboration opportunities
We’ve spoken to educators who’ve worked with their school’s food service and other departments to provide greens for their school lunch program. Depending on school size and amount grown, some schools provide enough to feed the whole school for one week a month at a time. Culinary, agriculture and science teachers can all benefit from collaborating on growing healthy, fresh food right in the classroom.
Teaching about farm-to-table/school
It is never too early or too late to teach students where food comes from and help them prepare for an increasing amount of jobs in sustainable food production. Start the discussion on how food gets from the farm to the grocery stores and expose students to a wide range of agriculture careers. For instance, some cities are installing major hydroponic gardens in warehouses and vacant big-box store buildings.
Bring key science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts into class
Hydroponics can be useful in providing hands-on activities for engineering, ecology, business, math and more.
Ready to start or add to your hydroponics program?
Visit here to learn how Realityworks’ award-winning Educational Hydroponics Systems can help.
