The Rowett Institute has contributed to a range of educational resources to help with home schooling during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a partner in the SEFARI (Scottish Environment, Food, Agriculture Research Institutes) group, the University of Aberdeen institute has shared educational activities to benefit teachers, parents and learners.
The free resources – created by the six SEFARI partners - allow children to become diet detectives, try being a farmer and even learn how to manage a forest from the comfort of their own living rooms.
The Rowett Institute provided material to support education from P2 to S3 with a focus on food.
Learners can become more aware of the journeys which food makes from field to fork and learn about seasonality and sustainability, investigate food labelling systems to help them make healthy choices, and undertake practical exercises to help them identify the key nutrients in what they eat.
Resources created by other partners cover a wide range of complementary topics including the environment and agriculture.
Dr Michelle Wilson-Chalmers, Research and Communications Officer at SEFARI Gateway, said: “The unprecedented health crisis posed by Covid-19 means home schooling has become essential and SEFARI is working hard to ensure our educational activities are made readily accessible online to help.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have access to hundreds of experts across a variety of topics who are passionate about education and enjoy creating fun resources that aid learning.”
Dr Julia Mitchell, Head of Knowledge Exchange, Impact and Communications at the Rowett Institute added: “Many people are juggling work, schooling and other commitments at the moment and so we are delighted to be able to offer our educational resources to assist in home learning.
“The food that we eat and its journey to our plates is an essential part of everyday life and a topic that people of all ages can engage with.
“The Rowett Institute would normal undertake school and public events but current restrictions mean we are unable to do this so, thanks to technology, we are delighted to be able to offer these virtually and as part of a complementary suite of learning with our SEFARI partners.”
Many of the activities are available now and can be accessed at https://sefari.scot/document/online-education-resources-table. Additional resources will be added over the coming weeks to ensure ease of access.