Bringing Farmed Animals to the Classroom

Teachers can schedule a one-time digital field trip or book a series to dig deep into the lives of farmed animals and explore how animal agriculture impacts our world.

CAS offers virtual field trips to schools for a fee of $100 per session to help cover staffing and equipment costs. A sliding-scale payment option is available for schools that can’t afford the full fee. With support from a VegFund grant, CAS was able to offer the program for free or at a reduced cost to all schools that expressed interest, regardless of their ability to pay.

Lauren Barbieri, CAS Education Manager, introducing Audrey to schoolchildren.

Goals

• To help students understand the ways that farmed animals are similar to the companion animals we share our lives with — and to us
• To provide learning objectives appropriate to students’ grade level and experience
• To reach as many schools as possible that have expressed an interest in virtual field trips regardless of ability to pay
• To educate students about the purpose of farmed animal sanctuaries and to understand why many people choose not to eat animals
• To help teachers understand how virtual field trips support educational standards

Approach

Promotion. Andrea and her team initially identified interested schools in collaboration with the Coalition for Healthy School Food, although many schools found CAS through word-of-mouth. In 2021, the staff began a major advertising push for the program and developed informational materials that help teachers and educators understand how CAS’s virtual field trips support educational standards.

In 2022, the staff began reaching out to teachers and schools directly and promoted the program in a national newsletter, social media, and a twice-weekly public livestream hosted by their humane educators.

CAS places particular emphasis on making the program available to underserved schools and continues to expand the program nationally. Through a partnership with Pearson Virtual Schools, which provides educational experiences to public schools in the United States and globally, CAS virtual field trips have reached more than 20 states and even some international students.

Curriculum. Before each virtual field trip, the humane educator collects information from the classroom teacher about what the students have learned at school about animal agriculture, farmed animals, and farmed animal sanctuaries. A “field trip” program is selected accordingly. Learning objectives for the programs vary by grade level, but all programming includes discussing the purpose of farmed animal sanctuaries and why some people choose not to eat meat.

For elementary school children, the program helps students understand the emotional lives of the rescued residents, their relationships to each other and to humans, and how they are like us and the companion animals we share our lives with.

Lauren Barbieri, CAS Education Manager, introducing Ohana and Keira to schoolchildren.

For upper middle and high school students, the humane educators extend the discussion to help students draw connections between the plight of farmed animals and the world around us, such as learning about the link between animal agriculture and the environment. Classes are designed to empower students to make lifestyle choices that benefit animals and to advocate for animals in their communities.

CAS generally takes a soft approach to veganism with schools, although it depends on the audience. Some schools support plant-based lifestyles, allowing staff to explore the topic in depth with students. Other schools are not very vegan-forward, in which case, the educators take the approach of introducing the sanctuary and then demonstrating how these animals are very much like our companion animals at home. Students are usually so surprised to see these species acting much like their dogs or cats at home that they make the connections quickly on their own.

Veganism is introduced as a way that some people choose to live in order to be compassionate to all animals.

As Andrea describes their approach, “We help students see that these animals are worthy of love. We want them to make the connection with these animals first and have those seeds that we are planting gradually blossom into more compassionate lifestyle choices. Once they start to ask questions about avoiding meat, we provide age-appropriate answers.”

Lauren Barbieri, CAS Education Manager, introducing Lena, Zeke, and Scout to schoolchildren.

Challenges

Broadcasting from a rural farm sanctuary has a unique set of challenges. It was not uncommon for the wind to drown out the educators’ voices or have excess ambient outdoor noise picked up by the iPads. The CAS staff adopted the use of small microphones to assist with sound quality, and they added a portable Wi-Fi booster to the property to prevent the also not uncommon loss of signal.

The staff’s favorite virtual platform is Adobe Connect because of its versatility and capabilities for interaction with students, but they don’t currently have a license. They’ve had to rely on schools to provide a meeting link (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.). They hope to obtain a license in the future.

Evaluation

For single programs, the CAS educators gauge student knowledge throughout the session using a thumbs up/thumbs down method to indicate agreement or disagreement with statements about the animals, their health prior to rescue, and their lives at the sanctuary. This approach helps students better understand the lives of the animals in different situations.

For a program series, the CAS staff can assess student knowledge and opinions in more detail. For example, they elicit students’ ideas about farmed animals before the virtual tour, such as what they need to survive, their mental and emotional capacities, and the nature of their lives in agricultural enterprises compared to sanctuaries. The educators also help students examine how we habitually compare humans to animals. For example, “If someone calls you a ‘chicken,’ what do they mean, and how does that mesh with the actual nature of chickens?” Based on what they’ve learned, students are encouraged to consider the positive attributes of chickens and other animals.

Following a program series, the educators evaluate the impact on the students using a short online survey by asking them about their thoughts about farmed animals and how they can help animals in their own lives.

Results

While nothing can replace a kiss from a cow, the sanctuary staff has a talent for portraying the animals’ personalities and charm on camera. For many students and teachers, this was their first experience learning about farmed animals from a companion animal view rather than as products of our food systems. Students were incredibly curious and engaged. Teachers reported that their students loved the experience.

“This was an incredible experience for our students. The educator did a wonderful job with presenting information in a well-organized manner.” – School teacher

“Thank you for providing our digital learners with a wonderful and meaningful virtual field trip to the Catskill Animal Sanctuary this afternoon.  We got some really good feedback from our students, as they really enjoyed their time with you and all the lovely, sweet, rescued animals with you!” – School teacher

The CAS educators witnessed students beginning to ask themselves important questions about farmed animals and recognizing how individual, loving, and deserving of enriched lives they are.

Andrea Nassar, CAS Director of Humane Education Programs, introducing Darwin to school children.

Top Tips

• Know your audience and differentiate your instruction accordingly. Introduce students to the variety of animal personalities and antics at your sanctuary. Students of all ages will start to make connections from there.
• Always have a backup plan. Animals are unpredictable, so it’s best to have your plan in place but also a workaround.
• Make sure your technology and equipment are suitable for the weather and tough enough to withstand some animal affection too! While one person is on the sanctuary grounds with the animals, have another staff member in the office ready to hop on the microphone in case of a Wi-Fi outage, prepared to answer some questions while the onsite person reconnects so that instruction is not disrupted.