Food is a part of life that we all share, a common and familiar topic that doesn’t need an explanation about its importance. As a result, it’s also an ideal trailhead for teaching science. The newest collaboration between the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) combines expertise to increase public awareness of Oregon specialty crops and enhance the public’s interest in science and technology in everyday life.
The USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) is administered by ODA. After several successful SCBGP grants awarded to OMSI in the past, its newest project, “Farm to Science—Fairs and Festivals,” continues to deepen and expand the ODA-OMSI partnership. The goal is to connect good food with science and technology while increasing awareness of the tremendous variety of specialty crops grown in Oregon.
“There is so much science involved with our food systems and agriculture. This topic keeps us relevant, and it’s easier to connect with a wider array of people over the topic of food,” says Rebecca Reilly, Food Sciences Coordinator at OMSI. As a previous middle school teacher, she says she’s excited to develop new activities around specialty crops and science. “I don’t have to remind people why food is relevant to their lives. Someone might say, ‘I don’t like chemistry, I don’t get it,’ but no one ever says that about food because it’s really personal and we interact with it every day. That makes it a really nice doorway to talk about science.”
OMSI wants to inspire curiosity and encourage people to ask more questions. Oregon agriculture is here to help. Over 100 specialty crops (fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, nursery crops) grown in the state allows for a tremendous amount of flexibility to create science-related activities. One visitor favorite uses Oregon berries. Anthocyanins, natural plant pigments found in fruits and vegetables such as berries, can be used as a pH indicator. Draw on paper with baking soda water and once it’s dry, dye the paper with a smashed berry and the message appears like invisible ink.
Reilly enjoys the freedom provided by specialty crops to build science activities. “Food science works really well to teach biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering; to talk about careers; and as a doorway to so much else. Food is a broad topic, so you can pull in nearly any science whether it’s plant science, engineering, food processing, nutrition and physiology and how food affects our body, or the chemistry of how we change food when we cook it.”
One of OMSI’s strategic priorities involves reaching outside of the Portland area to offer science education to more areas of the state. The upcoming two year “Farm to Science” specialty crop block grant continues support for an annual OMSI Harvest Festival and farmers’ market in Portland while adding OMSI events at three locations throughout the state this summer. Joining the fun of county fairs in Jackson and Lincoln counties, as well as partnering with the High Desert Museum in Bend, OMSI will share more than ten activities focused on agriculture and science with visitors. Two new locations will be added to the list in the summer of 2018.
OMSI stresses the importance of collaboration during this process, working with Oregon commodity commissions and county fair organizers to learn more about specialty crops, the areas they will be visiting, and the people who live there. “We want to work with the commissions and the county fair organizers because they know about the areas we’re visiting, they have baseline knowledge of the people there. We want to be sensitive to the communities we’re visiting. We hope the activities will encourage curiosity about specialty crops, as well as help people to think about them more often, and understand how many different types there are,” says Reilly.
A strong outreach and education program is already established at OMSI with representatives traveling throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Northern California, and Alaska. As the largest science center in the region, the museum works to take a leadership role. The agriculture science activities created through the Farm to Science grant will live on past county fairs as food science demonstrations led by OMSI volunteers, and to boost the repertoire of activities used for outreach throughout the region.
