Project Feed 1010 (Institute for Systems Biology)

Summary

Project Feed 1010 is an initiative of the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB, Seattle, Baliga Lab) that applies systems biology to aquaponics research with the goal of optimizing sustainable food production — its name references feeding a projected global population of 10.1 billion by 2100. The project pursues three tracks: scaling aquaponics research in ISB's own 4×4-ft model systems, supporting a network of educators, and running citizen science. Its education arm, delivered through ISB's Systems Education Experiences (SEE) site, offers a free, NGSS-aligned Food Security Curriculum Module (last updated February 2021) in which students use real aquaponics data collected at ISB — or data from their own classroom systems — to calculate water-use efficiency, model system scaling, and design aquaponic solutions to food insecurity in developing countries. Activities include systems-mapping ("So, What is Aquaponics?"), efficiency and upscaling worksheets, and an engineering lab on designing, constructing, and re-engineering systems. ISB also ran high-school internship cohorts whose interns built curriculum and low-cost classroom systems from everyday materials. A RAND evaluation of ISB describes Project Feed 1010's purpose as standardizing, automating, and democratizing aquaponics, with a STEM curriculum devoted to climate change, food security, and environmental sustainability.

Guiding Principles

STEM Integration: The module explicitly spans biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, statistics, and computer science, mapped against NGSS disciplinary core ideas (LS2 Ecosystems, ESS3 Earth and Human Activity, ETS1 Engineering Design).
Youth Empowerment: High-school interns co-created the curriculum and students act as citizen scientists contributing system data.
Food Sovereignty: The framing problem is global food security; students upscale classroom models to estimate national water conservation and reduced vegetable imports.
Open Source: Lesson documents, student worksheets, and ISB system data are freely shared, and low-cost designs use household materials (detergent containers, paper cups, coconut coir).

Learning Outcomes & Transferable Skills

Learners practice Systems Thinking via node/edge mapping of nutrient flows; Water Chemistry through the nitrogen cycle (Nitrosomonas/Nitrobacter conversions); Data Literacy by analyzing real aquaponics datasets and computing water footprints; Biology and Food Production through maintaining a stable living system; and Sustainability Literacy by evaluating aquaponics against irrigation- and fertilizer-dependent farming. The design challenge builds engineering and Project Management habits (drafting, iteration, logbooks).

How to Replicate or Build On It

Request the current Food Security Curriculum Module via the link on the SEE module page (see.isbscience.org) — it is distributed as a living Google Doc/PDF.
Begin with the systems-thinking activity "So, What is Aquaponics?" before the calculations lessons.
Download the "Calculating Aquaponics Efficiency and Upscaling" student worksheet and apply it to the published ISB 2017 dataset or your own classroom data.
Build the low-cost tip-box/bottle model if no full aquaponics system is available.
Field-test lessons and report feedback to see@isbscience.org, as the team invites.

Considerations & Constraints

Cost: Curriculum and datasets are free; a classroom aquaponics system is optional (low-cost bottle builds documented).
Skill Level: Intermediate; targets high-school STEM courses with some quantitative work.
Space/Climate: Classroom or greenhouse; climate-versatile.
Tools Required: Spreadsheet software for calculations; aquaponics system or bottle model; internet access for datasets.
Ongoing Maintenance: Moderate if a living system is maintained (fish feeding, water testing).
Access Barriers: projectfeed1010.com sits behind an anti-bot (Anubis proof-of-work) screen that can block automated access; English only; curriculum distributed by email request rather than direct download for the latest version.

Prerequisites

None formal; the module itself supplies the introductory systems-thinking activity and assumes only basic farming/irrigation awareness from its earlier lessons.

Primary Source

https://www.projectfeed1010.com/education/ — official Project Feed 1010 education page (curriculum module and labs are hosted on ISB's Systems Education Experiences site, https://see.isbscience.org/modules/modeling-sustainable-food-systems/fs-activity-lab/).