Mind Map

Use the mind map to introduce your students to the sites we’ll visit on this field trip and to inspire more in-depth discussion and debate about how they are linked, how they influence and depend on each other, and how they can work together in a more sustainable framework.

Display the three sites we’ll be visiting (see Mind Map in the Teach section) or write them on your blackboard. Tell students that these sites are just a few parts of a vast, global, interconnected food system—which is itself only part of even larger systems in the environment, economy and society (like supply chains, the Internet, and our energy grid).

Ask students to come up with ideas on how these sites are related. The mind map can be displayed in layers as students raise questions and concerns. You can also download the map and make a copy for each student.

Ask students to consider how these systems work today, how they’re changing, and where opportunities for improvement might exist.