CASE at Sherwood Courses

Introduction to Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (AFNR) introduces students to the range of agricultural opportunities and the pathways of study they may pursue. CASE incorporates science, mathematics, reading, and writing components into the context of agriculture. Students use this course's introductory skills and knowledge throughout the CASE curriculum. 

Woven throughout the course are activities to develop and improve students' employability skills through practical applications. Students explore career and post-secondary opportunities in each area of the course. 

While surveying the opportunities available in agriculture and natural resources, students learn to solve problems, research, analyze data, work in teams, and take responsibility for their work, actions, and learning. Students investigate, experiment, and learn about documenting a project, solving problems, and communicating their solutions to their peers and members of the professional community.

The Natural Resources and Ecology course is a foundation course within the CASE sequence of courses. The course provides students a variety of experiences that in the fields of natural resources and ecology. Students will explore hands-on projects and activities while studying topics such as land use, water quality, stewardship, and environmental agencies. Study of the natural world including biomes, land, air, water, energy, use and care as well as a focus on issues surrounding man's interaction with the Earth will be addressed in this course.

Environmental Science Issues is a specialization course in the CASE Program of Study. Students will complete hands-on activities, projects, and problems that simulate actual concepts and situations found in the environmental science field, allowing students to build content knowledge and technical skills. 

Students will investigate areas of environmental science including ecosystem management, sustainable agriculture, energy choices, and pollution. Students will maintain a research level Laboratory Notebook throughout the course documenting their research and laboratory experiences. Issue analysis and experimental design will be highlighted as students develop and conduct environmental investigations. In addition, students will explore connections between the Environmental Science Issues lessons, Supervised Agricultural Experience, and FFA components that are important for the development of an informed agricultural education student. 

Students will investigate, experiment, and learn about documenting a project, solving problems, and communicating solutions to their peers and members of the professional community.

The Agricultural Research and Development (ARD) course is the capstone designed to culminate students’ experiences in agriculture, based on the pathway of study they pursued. Woven throughout the course are projects and problems based in practical applications and designed to develop and improve employability skills of students. Students will further enhance research, critical thinking, and teamwork skills as they expand on content knowledge from previous CASE courses. Students will work to solve complex, real-world problems through a focused research project. This process will include conducting research, data analysis and communication, and the development of new products.