Learning Games Lab toolkit

The Learning Games Lab partners with youth as testers, co-designers and informants. In this toolkit, we share the activities we use during sessions with youth, sample schedules showing how we place the activities in day- or week-long sessions, and the content and standards and learning theories which drive our work.

Visit the Learning Games Lab toolkit

All About Microgreens

Microgreens share similar anatomy and nutritional benefits to sprouts, but carry a much lower risk of foodborne illness. This campaign educates consumers and home-growers about the differences between sprouts and microgreens, and promotes the practice of washing microgreens before eating them, which research suggests is the safest way to eat them. Animated videos show the best sanitation practices.

Visit the All About Microgreens website.

Here To Help NM

Agriculture can be filled with unique stresses, from fluctuating market prices to unpredictable weather events. "Here to Help New Mexico" encourages seeking support and supporting others, to remove the stigma around discussing mental health.

Learn more about Here To Help NM.

Phytophthora Blight

A website documenting NMSU research, farmers’ experiences with Phytophthora blight in the Mesilla Valley, ongoing work in the Soilborne Disease Research Laboratory at the College of ACES, and a simulated animation of the life cycle of Phytophthora.

Learn more about Phytophthora Blight.

Math Snacks

Math Snacks are animations and games designed to help math learners. Each snack presents a mathematical concept addressed in grades 6, 7, and 8. Ideal for use in a classroom or individually. Teacher and learner guides, common core standards, and videos showing Math Snacks being used in the classroom help teachers, parents, and students get the most out of these resources.

Learn more about Math Snacks.

Selected Plants of Navajo Rangelands

This database helps agricultural professionals, ranchers, and others in the Navajo Nation identify typical range plants to maximize rangeland ecology, productivity, and sustainability. Plants are identified by Navajo name (written and spoken) and are searchable by plant type, common name, scientific name, flower color, habitat, growing season, or special concerns.

Visit the Selected Plants of Navajo Rangelands.

Kid Eats

Kid Eats provides educational videos, recipes, and a virtual kitchen experience on the iPad, suitable for youth in grades 3-6. Includes seven recipes and supplemental materials, including videos of each recipe being prepared by a child with assistance from an adult.

Get cooking at Kid Eats.

ARID: Agroecosystem Resilience In Times of Drought

Developing short and long-term management strategies that are proactive rather than reactive supports ecological, social, and economic resilience in the face of drought.

Visit ARID: Agroecosystem Resilience In Times of Drought.

Zinkicide: Safe New Treatment for HLB

The citrus disease Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening, has compromised citrus production in many regions. Zinkicide is an economically feasible and environmentally sustainable bactericide treatment for HLB-affected citrus trees to improve production, fruit quality, and profitability.

See how Zinkicide works.

Science of Agriculture

This project aids undergraduates' knowledge of Animal Science, Soil, and Environmental Science. The suite includes animations, interactives, and live-action videos that teach mathematical, chemical, and soil concepts important to plant science, environmental science, animal science, and food science. 

Check out Science of Agriculture.

Desert Blooms

New Mexico's gardens and landscapes can thrive anywhere, from our high snowy mountain peaks to our hot desert plains. Learn how to use resources wisely to create a garden or landscape environment suited to your needs.

Explore Desert Blooms.

ACES Heroes

Learn about Fabián García, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca, Roy Nakayama, Jessie Fitzgerald, Rosemarie Valdes Pangborn, and Samuel Steel, who made great contributions to agriculture and NM Cooperative Extension.

Visit ACES Heroes.

Don't Wash Your Chicken!

Although raw chicken and turkey can carry bacteria on its surfaces, research shows that washing raw poultry under running water is a bad idea. This website includes fotonovelas, mini-dramas, recipes, and videos to help spread the message. An animation shows how bacteria can contaminate surfaces and other foods.

Remember: Don't Wash Your Chicken!

Because I Care, I Wash My Hands

Ideally suited to child care centers, this fun, hands-on curriculum, packed full of songs, activities and experiments, helps even very young children understand why and how hand washing helps keep friends and family healthy. Includes the viral video, “Because I Care: Lullaby,” which has had 97 million views on YouTube.

Visit Because I Care, I Wash My Hands.

Chinese Food Safety

Chinese is the third most commonly spoken language in U.S. foodservice operations, following English and Spanish. In many areas of the U.S., food safety educators only speak English and so it is difficult for them to effectively train Chinese speaking foodservice workers. This website was designed to help food safety educators reach this important group Chinese-speaking foodservice workers. Available in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

Learn about Chinese Food Safety.

Eat Move Learn

Organized around the idea that we must "balance" the energy we take in through food and the energy we spend in physical activity, Eat Move Learn enabled teachers to address national academic standards for sixth-grade science in a way that comes alive in the classroom. Eat, Move, Learn helped teachers and students analyze the problems of food and fitness, find solutions to energy imbalance, and design a study to test their ideas.

Visit the Eat, Move, Learn website.

Tasty Solutions for Diabetes

Tasty Solutions for Diabetes provides information on eating that works for anyone who wants to live a healthier life - especially those who are struggling with their weight or at risk for heart disease.

The recipes featured were created specifically for people with diabetes but are healthy for anyone who wants to eat great-tasting, nutritious food. The 16 featured recipes are divided into sections on breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

View videos at Tasty Solutions for Diabetes.

Ancient Roots, Modern Medicine

Ancient Roots, Modern Medicine is a three-part documentary series that explores how traditional plants are revolutionizing science.

Part 1: Jordan: the Middle East

Part 2: The Borderlands: USA / Mexico

Part 3: Curacao: the Caribbean

View videos at ARMM, and visit ARMM website.

Transpiration

This interactive scientific visualization explores how water moves through plants via the process of transpiration. Transpiration is the evaporation of water from plants through pores in their leaves. This water loss allows plants to access carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and to cool themselves.

Explore Transpiration.

Treadsylvania

In a forgotten land the minions of evil have returned once again. One by one, towns and farms have all fallen victim to these creatures. Only one stronghold remains: Treadsylvania. Safely ride your ATV through mysterious locations and defeat the horrible monsters to free the town from their evil grasp!

Explore Treadsylvania.

Exergames Unlocked

Encourage physical activity! Find the most effective exergames, strategies, and recommendations for different audiences and different locations.

View the videos Exergames Unlocked.

Elk, Land and Knowledge

This program was designed to enhance awareness of elk, how they move about the landscape, and how knowledge of elk biology can help us better understand how elk relate to human interests on the land.

Just for Kids

Just for Kids was a collection of online 4-H websites and activities.

Forest Fire Defensible Zones

Information about how to protect homes and families from wildfires.

Seeds of Change

This initiative by the Smithsonian Institute taught diversity and history by examining the evolution of agriculture and food. With educational activities and projects, students learned about history, cultures, and applications to incorporate.

Invasive Weeds

Invasive Weeds of the Southwest combined multi-disciplinary research and community outreach to evaluate and promote low-cost, community-based approaches to management of invasive plants

CYFAR (Children, Youth, and Families At Risk) NET

A statewide project to improve New Mexico Extension's capacity to work with at-risk families and enhance community projects, CYFAR aimed at strengthening educational opportunities for childcare providers and increasing parent education services.

CYFER (Children, Youth and Families Education and Research Network) NET

Now hosted at the University of Minnesota, CYFERnet's Web site brought together children, youth, and family resources for public land-grant universities. Materials were carefully reviewed by college and university faculty.

Digital Desert Library

A collaboration between the Smithsonian Institute, NMSU's College of Education and teachers across the nation, the Digital Desert Library was an online resource guide for deserts. Whether looking for activities for students or trying to find information using comprehensive databases, it was a rich resource for teachers.

Teleliteracy Assistance for Businesses and Communities

Teleliteracy Assistance for Businesses and Communities (T-ABCs) for Rural Americans introduced the Internet to rural and minority communities, giving them access to knowledge, enhanced lifestyles, business practices, and prosperity.

SPS Sanitary & Phytosanitary

SPS Online was a system was developed by the United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service as a resource for learning about Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, the SPS Agreement, and Risk Assessment with SPS.