Trends in Agriculture and Livestock Production in SD By: Paul Peterson Watertown High School Prairie to Mountain Explorer for South Dakota

Lesson Concept Summary: This lesson teaches GIS users how to normalize data to see trends. There is a great amount of Census and Agriculture data available on the Internet that has been collected on South Dakota specifically for this project. Students will be able to analyze trends in crop and livestock production in South Dakota over the twenty year time period.

National Geography Standards Grades 9-12: 1. How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies, to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective. C. Evaluate the applications of geographic tools and supporting technologies to serve particular purposes… Curriculum Standards Addressed

Standard’s continued National Geography Standards Grades 9-12: 9. The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth’s surface. A. Predict trends in the spatial distribution of population on Earth…

National Math Standards Grades 9-12: Data Analysis: Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them. Connections: Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics.

National Science Standards Grades 9-12: Content Standard A: As a result of activities in grades 9-12, all students should develop: i. Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry ii. Understandings about scientific inquiry (Students should formulate a testable hypothesis and demonstrate the logical connections between the scientific concepts guiding a hypothesis and the design of an experiment.)

Suggested Ability Level This lesson is for intermediate to advanced users of ArcView software.

Materials: PTME CD-ROM with updated 2002 data Microsoft Word or Excel Calculator ArcView 3.3 or Newer

ArcView skills learned: Work with the Legend editor to: –Change the legend type –Normalize data –Determine appropriate classification of data –Determine appropriate color ramps

What students do: Students will work collaboratively in pairs or groups to investigate trends and influences on crop and livestock production in South Dakota. They will choose one of the two categories to investigate and determine increases and decreases in production between 1982 and 2002.

Lesson Pre-teaching: The teacher should explain the geographic inquiry model and how this lesson follows it. The teacher should demonstrate how to normalize and classify data in ArcView. They should also explain that a hypothesis is an educated guess and provide an example with the data used in the demonstration to the class.

Geographic Inquiry Model 1.Ask geographic questions. (What is where, why there, why care?) 2.Acquire geographic resources. (Internet data depots and ArcView/PTME data) 3.Explore geographic data. (normalize data) 4.Analyze geographic information. (visually and mathematically evaluate data) 5.Act upon geographic knowledge. (make a decision about your hypothesis and do something about it)

Instructional Activity: For agriculture data analysis use the following crops: Barley, Wheat, Corn, Sorghum, Hay, Oats, and Sunflowers. For livestock data analysis use the following animals: Cattle, Beef Cows, Milk Cows, Hogs, and Boiler Chickens.

Step 1 Normalize the data above comparing data for 2002 to 1992.

Step 2 Create an Excel Spreadsheet or table in Microsoft Word to display your answers to the following questions: –List for each crop or animal whether they increased or decreased in production from ? –List for each crop or animal which part of SD increased or decreased the most? –What other factors do you think influenced the results? –What considerations about the data need to be made?

Step 3 Normalize the data in the above crops comparing data for 1992 to 1982.

Step 4 Create a new Excel Spreadsheet or table in Microsoft Word to display your answers to the following questions: –List for each crop or animal whether they increased or decreased in production from ? –List for each crop or animal which part of SD increased or decreased the most? –What other factors do you think influenced the results? –What considerations about the data need to be made?

Step 5 List which crops or animals increased and decreased steadily over the entire twenty year period and which fluctuated. Use Increased Steadily, Decreased Steadily, and Fluctuated.

Step 6 Formulate a hypothesis based on the data results regarding crop or livestock production in South Dakota and type it at the bottom of your second page. –Ex. I believe that if…… then……will occur.

Step 7 Investigate USDA and agriculture information on the internet to support your hypothesis.

Step 8 If you discover your hypothesis to be in error, write a new one after acquiring the new information

Step 9 Answer the following question. –What could be done in South Dakota to improve crop or animal production based on your new information?

Step 10 Do some internet research in the state department of Agriculture to determine if it is being done already.

Step 11 Explain what is being done about the situation and if nothing, write a short explanation regarding your investigation and possible solution based on your research. It should be addressed to an appropriate governmental official.

Scoring Rubric