Instructional Unit
9th - 12th
How do we cultivate a sustainable future for Earth’s growing population? What role does agriculture play in ensuring food security? These are questions students will answer as they study The Man Who Fed the World. The teacher’s guide to the book contains modules and instructional materials designed to help high school students examine the elements of sustainable international development efforts, specifically with respect to the role agriculture plays in spurring economic transformation and growth in developing countries. Through reading The Man Who Fed the World, a biography about Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug by Leon Hesser, students gain a firsthand account of the Green Revolution. The selected readings from the book illustrate a concrete example of a past international development effort for students to analyze from multiple perspectives, including its impact on food production, economic transformation, government policies, technological research and development, and the environment. At the end of the lesson, students will articulate a position, informed by fact, regarding how modern agriculture can be applied to sustainably accommodate Earth’s growing population through future development efforts.