THE ORIGINS OF MY LUNCHBOX!
By: Sansan Lim, Linda Ooi, Eric Chan, Rehka Balakrishnan.
Introduction
Through the centuries our world has undergone massive changes in how vegetables have been cultivated, processed, ultimately consumed by humans. Towards the midst of the 20th century there has been a great shift in the understanding in what vegetables are and where they came from. Through the invention of the refrigerators, snap freezing technology and modern day supermarkets, the origins of these edible plant species becomes rather blurred resulting in students being confused as to where their carrots or celery, common in a students’ lunch box, come from. A common misconception among junior school students is that vegetables actually come from a bag in a supermarket without knowing its principal origin. The purpose of this project is to address such misconceptions and take them on a multi-disciplinary journey to decipher the origins of their beloved lunch time vegetables beginning from the humble seed from which gets sowed into the earth to the long journey it takes to reach the lunch box.
Big Idea
Years 5-8 students are given the opportunity to be responsible for the school garden project.
Scenario
Students are responsible in all aspect of initialising a grand project from scratch such as proposal planning, research and development, education, information gathering,budgeting, horticulture, scheduling job rotations, project management, advertisement, fundraising, public relations, administration, skill technicians and others. They are given a piece of land in the school ground and they are responsible to plan proposals on how to set-up the garden and other ongoing development that require communicating and involving the school board, parents and councillors and communities.
Science
The science component is to form a foundation in students’ learning about living things and gardening cycle over the seasons, as well as to engage all learners to be part of the project through the various stages of the (revised) Bloom’s Taxonomy.
To achieve this we plan to use an interactive adventure game which is aimed to provide students an overview of how knowledge from Science can be applied through gardening. The game is designed to be part of their gardening blog and help students’ have a better understanding of:
- Plant hormones;
- Photosynthesis; and
- Mendelian genetics.
The game proposed consist of a number of levels, each associated with one of the topic mentioned.
VELS: Science
- Students explore how scientific work has led to the discovery of new knowledge and understanding about the natural world and changed our understanding of ourselves and our future.
- Students will use a range of tools (for example computer models, images and simulations) to explain and interpret observations
- Students share their ideas through their blog, website or other public forums, which are correctly formatted, comply with ICT conventions and demonstrate an awareness of the characteristics that contribute to products meeting their purpose.
Activities: Farmer Game
1. Upon beginning the Farmer game, each student will first create a customisable avatar which may be changed at any point.
By creating an avatar students form an identity in the game which involves students in the virtual gardening setting. This helps to prepare students for real-life applications when the garden is formed in the school program.
Activities: Groovy Garden
1. In Groovy Garden, students can earn farm coins by carrying out certain tasks that has been assigned.Students have to select each individual ‘? ‘for a question
The question will be posed to the student and each correct answer will allow them to win farm coins.
The questions will be related to the plant hormones and how these hormones help the plant develop. These are some of the knowledge that a farmer has to possess in order to successfully cultivate crops.
After answering a question correctly, the result will enable them to choose a seed to plant in their garden.
2. Students will go through a series of activities in order to gain materials such as seeds, farm land, ploughing equipment for them to build and customise their farm land.
As students build their farm they can harvest their crops and put it up for sale which will earn them farm coins.
3. Students can also request for their classmates to help them with certain task to help them gain farm coins.
Considerations
Research dating right back to the early 1980s (Subrahmanyam, K. & Greenfield, P., 1994) consistently shown that playing computer games (irrespective of genre) produces reductions in reaction times, improved hand-eye co-ordination and raises players’ self-esteem. What is more, curiosity, fun and the nature of the challenge also appear to add to a game’s educational potential. When the game was designed it aimed to be sophisticated enough for students to apply what they had learnt in classrooms, generate their curiosity and create an interesting way for students to learn.
However, there exist a few practice considerations when implementing this form of ICT in the classroom.
Problems identified:
1. Skills of teacher
The scaffolding skills and expertise of the teacher is crucial, in order for such a program to be successful. The basic objective of interactive multimedia material is not so much to replace the teacher but for students to have an alternative source of information that they can rely on. Often classroom lesson lack the use of Information technology as teachers are not equipped with the skills.
Solution recommended:
- Provide opportunities for teachers to plan and attend personal development at ICT seminars.
- Team teaching with another teacher who is comfortable to share knowledge and expertise.
2. Financial requirements
The school will need to set a budget to procure game license for the whole school or a set number of users and to fund personal development.
Solution recommended:
- Government grants are a great source of financial relieve when implementing an educational IT program.
3. There is a concern in unable to provide computer access for students at school and home due to funding and the students’ social economic status.One of the objectives of interactive multimedia is providing the student with control so that he/she may review the material at his or her own pace. However, there may be situations where the student is not comfortable to utilise Information Technology with their peers.
Solution recommended:
- Increase collaboration between teachers and students to enable learning to become fun and friendly, without fear of inadequacies or failure.
- Teachers can create classroom time for students to do work with their IT program. This time can also be used to assist students who require help with technology.
- Offering payment plans to students of a small sum a month so that students can purchase net books or iPads. Another option is to create an affordable leasing program so that students can borrow a handheld computer during the school year.
Mathematics
The broadness in the nature of gardening provides a rich context for students to connect with tangible materials and real-life applications which connects them with abstract concepts of mathematics with the aid of modern technology. The target VELS for the garden program are Area and Perimeter, Volume and Rate, Scale Drawing, Fractions, and graphical representation of data such as Statistics.
Planning the Garden Beds
Students will work in groups to explore the Mathematical concepts in the following activities. The activities comprise of the stated VELS points.
VELS - Level 5 Communication
- Develop a range of strategies for listening attentively and extracting meaning from communications.
VELS - Level 5 Thinking Processes
- Participate in activities, in which they seek evidence to support their conclusions or investigate the validity of other people’s ideas, and identify and questions generalizations.
VELS - ICT
- ICT provides a rich and flexible learner-centred environment in which students can experiment and take risks when developing new understanding.
- Assist in their thinking processes and reflect on the thinking strategies they use to develop understanding.
Planning the Garden Beds - Area and Perimeter
VELS - Levels 4 and 5 Measurement: Area and Perimeter
- Use appropriate metric units to estimate and measure length, perimeter, area, surface area, mass, volume, capacity, angle in shapes and solids, time, and temperature. Students determine and use the level of accuracy required for the purpose of the measurement, and convert metric units into smaller or larger units as required. They develop simple procedures to determine the perimeter and area of simple shapes (for example, counting squares in a grid to determine area).
- Identify and investigate real life, practical and historical applications of mathematics. They solve new problems based on familiar problem structures.
Activities: Area and Perimeter
1. Students are given a piece of land for their garden and they need to decide on the number of beds they wish to have, as well as the size(s) of the bed(s) that will suit their needs and the dimension of the land. In deciding on the shape(s) and size(s) of the garden bed(s), students need to consider the types of plants and vegetables that will be grown in the bed(s) as well as how these will be organized, such as in rows or clumps. They need to consider the distance the plants will be from one another, and thus need to know the length and width of the bed(s) to calculate how many plants to grow. They need to know the areas of the garden bed(s) so as to calculate the amount of soil required and know how much space will be used up in the land. They also need to know the perimeters of the garden bed(s) and land so that they could calculate the amount of fencing required.
Students need to first determine the area of the land that they have for their garden. MathisFun Garden Area explains how to measure and solve problems with regular and irregular garden shapes (using a grid as shown in diagram below).
2. To introduce calculation of Area and Perimeter, I would show a video from MathsPlayground which explains the difference between the area of a shape and its perimeter, as well as discusses whether shapes with the same area can have different perimeters, in the context of a garden bed.
The video uses two different units of measurement – centimeters and feet, which makes for an interesting discussion regarding the different units used across the globe. Converting Units applet provides students to interactively practice and explore unit conversions. The video also uses the voice of a ten year old child, which makes it easier for middle year students to relate to.
3. To consolidate students’ knowledge on calculating area and perimeter, I would get them to explore with the bgfl-perimeter and area applet as it supports students with the use of metalanguage and examples, including those of compound shapes. Students could input their answers and check.
4. As an extension, I would plan lessons on practical applications of area, perimeter and cost by using interactive quizzes such as MathsPlayground Geometry and Determining Cost. The applets allow students to extend their knowledge of area and perimeter to cost of fencing required. Surface area may also be covered if students wish to paint the fencing around the land or around their garden bed(s).
Planning the Garden Beds - Volume and Rate
VELS - Levels 4 and 5 Measurement: Volume and Rate
- Apple mensuration formulas to calculate volume, rates and surface areas.
- Solve problems involving simple rates and convert between metric units of length, capacity and time.
Activities: Volume
1. Students need to determine the depth of soil for the garden bed in order to calculate the volume of soil required. Students will explore calculating volumes using the applet IXL Volume which assists students in reflecting their thinking about calculating volume.
2. Students will calculate the most efficient way of transporting all the soil to their garden bed(s). For example, they need to calculate the number of trips required to transport all the soil using say, a wheelbarrow, given that a person using a wheelbarrow could move x cubic meters of soil in one trip, where x is a value that the students need to experiment and find out, and thus calculate the time taken to transport the soil. Students can use an online collaboration board Stixy to engage their peers to think in their own time and post and share their ideas. It encourages proactive learning and peer assessments. Students also become aware that they need to consider the time taken when they plan their time-table.
Planning the Garden Beds - Scale Drawing
VELS - Levels 4 and 5 Measurement: Space
- Create 2D representations of 3D shapes and objects found in the surrounding environment.
- Use the ideas of size, scale, and direction to describe relative location and objects in maps.
- Use lines, grids, contours, isobars, scales and bearings to specify location and direction on plans and maps.
Activities: Scale Drawing
Students will draft a scale drawing for their garden.
- For Years 5 and 6 students, I would engage a session to apply scaling skills on the grid lines in MSExcel. Students can create garden beds of any shape but they need to be able to determine the area and perimeter.
- For Years 7 and 8, I would get students to explore the idea of scale drawings using the interactive quiz at IXL Scale Drawings. Students will be expected to draft a scale drawing of their garden, with the appropriate scale ratio. The plan must have appropriate Mathematical and gardening labels, which can show surrounding features such as trees, paths, ponds etc.
Learning Outcomes
The learning outcomes are the students’ understanding, application and evaluation using estimation skills, measurement skills in length and width, calculation skills in area, perimeter, volume, rate and scale drawings to real life applications.
Assessments
The assessment of students’ achievements will be evident through their problem solving skills and various recording and working out strategies such as:
- Use of paper and pen to draft ideas and solve problems;
- Taking pictures of the area and annotate it on Paint or MS Word;
- Planning using the Maths links;
- A tabulated draft of cost for the project on MS Excel; and
- Create a prototype of the plan from ICT tools and tangible materials.
Problem Identified 1 – Security and Cost
Some of the sites for the interactive quizzes and applets allow for a number of free trials and require registration for further use. Some of the registrations require payment and this would incur cost for the school. Some students may register on their own if the registration is free of charge, and this would pose security problems as well, as students may be asked to reveal their personal particulars during the registration.
Solution
Students should be clearly informed not to register on the sites on their own due to security reasons. The school could do a ‘bulk registration’ or sign up for a membership with the sites and set aside money to finance the use of the sites.
Problem Identified 2 – PD of Teachers
As the students work on the interactive applets and quizzes to experiment with new concepts, they may require assistance if they encounter a problem with using the site. The teacher would thus need to be very familiar with using the sites and with handling common technical problems as it might not be feasible to have a technical assistant in every class.
Solution
The school would have to provide PD to support teachers in managing online sites and common technical issues. Subject specific PD may need to be provided so that teachers are apt at using the specific sites for their subject.
Problem Identified 3 – Resourcing and Timetabling
The project requires extensive use of computers. The school may not have sufficient equipment or up to date equipment to support the implementation of the project. Most of the sites require internet access to run, and this may cause disruptions if internet access was not available during the lesson time. There may also be a high demand for the computer rooms and this could lead to the project not progressing as promptly as planned as classes have to take turns in using the computer rooms.
Solution
The school will need sufficient equipment to cater to the student population and requirements of the project. In addition, the school will have to ensure that the computers used are up to date in terms of the software installed as some of the sites require certain configurations for it to run successfully. As most of the sites require internet access to run, teachers would need to have an alternative plan for the lesson should internet access not be available. For timetabling issue of the computer rooms, the school may need to come up with a schedule for the classes involved in the project so that the computer rooms may be utilized efficiently throughout the year.
Problem Identified 4 – Student Management
Students work in small groups on the interactive quizzes and applets to explore the Mathematical concepts. Groups may encounter difficulty understanding the concepts on their own, and may thus lose interest or motivation. Some students may get distracted by their group members or by the technology, and lose focus on the task.
Solution
It is essential for the teacher to be aware of the class dynamics and ability levels of the students so that the teacher could form appropriate groups for the class. The teacher should ensure that each group consists of middle-to-high ability student(s) to promote peer tutoring of concepts. The teacher should go around the groups to supervise and assist, and ensure that all students are on task.
Plant Measurement and Modelling through ICT.
At this stage of the project students are expected to have designed, implement and planted vegetables within their garden patch. The growth of the vegetable plants themselves provide invaluable data in which could be collected for mathematical learning and analysis. In particular the idea of plant height provides an interesting perspective on the natural growth cycle of plants. Since plant height is a measurable quantity this could lead to students learning more about measurement and ultimately basic modelling. The sessions below will be part of integrated learning sessions which encompasses Science, Mathematics, ICT and English.
Activities: Time Lapse (VELS-Mutimedia)
1. A camera is implemented in front of the plant to capture the various stages of plant growth. Both ruler and an icy pole stick will be placed next to the growing plant as a reference lengths. A Youtube sample of the output from the time lapse camera technology will be shown to students as an engagement activity and open a challenge on how they would apply time lapse.
2. At primary school level the topic of informal units of measurement can be incorporated here. Students are to take various frames from the time lapse which are at daily intervals and take measurements as to how high the plant has grown relative to the icy pole stick. The aim is for students to estimate and infer future heights based on the icy pole stick. This will link onto practical experiences with formal measurement in the middle years of using a ruler as device to aid in formal measurement and bringing forward the idea of accuracy.
3. The ultimate goal for the frames which would be obtained via time lapse would be for students to learn about the concept of graphing and basic statistics. Student are to take measurements via the computer on conclusion of the plant growth cycle, upload the camera footage on a computer and use video editing software such as Microsoft Movie Maker to obtain individual frame shots of a given plant, measure plant height of the plant for each day of growth and use the data on excel to plot points on a graph which relate time to plant height. Most students should see that plant growth is in fact not linear however teachers could ask students draw a line which is linear (a line of be fit) to predict plant growth with respect to the day number thereby introducing the concepts of extrapolation and interpolation.
4. Another activity to engage the more visual learners is to have a graph whereby the axis remains the same and where the students electronically crop the frame images of the plant and paste them of the graph itself. It visually show how the difference in height of the plants helping them connect what they could see happening to the abstract concept of the purpose of a graph as shown in Presentermedia.
Assessment
Assessment of this area can be done in a variety of ways to gauge student understanding. Since measurement is an inexact science students can assess the accuracy of their measurements by verifying using the Photoshop the measurement comparison tool to compare their measurement with the software aided measurement. In terms of graphing we can similarly compare the lines of best fit the students have drawn to the line of best fit obtained through computational means i.e. linear regression function in Excel.
Practical Considerations
Problem 1
mathematics it does present its challenges. The professional development and training of teacher especially for the older generation being familiar with how to operate a new age digital camera is crucial for the success of this project. This is particularly important as teachers being the ‘expert’ in the field should have the required knowledge to sufficiently scaffold the students in setting up and troubleshooting such technology. Another issue that can be identified is the fact that teachers often don’t have enough class time to implement this project within their existing content heavy curriculum.
A proposed solution is to better encourage cross curricular involvement into the project from the schools. Since this task is designed to cover content from many curriculum areas, better integration can be achieved as time spent in the garden by the students would be time which is relevant to a few subject areas rather than only one subject area. In terms using the camera, teacher should be required to take an assessment to reach a certain ability level before they are deemed competent at teaching the ICT to student and have good knowledge in trouble shooting. Another solution is to have another person managing the garden (while the students are away) to have them also trained on the technology, aiding the students if they require assistance with using the technology. This would be viable if the garden used way shared between schools which have similar projects running.
Problem 2
Another consideration that should be given is the idea of a power source for the camera. Since most cameras are battery operated they are constrained by limited battery life usually not lasting more than 1 day. It would be impractical for either the student or teacher to change batteries daily as this would simply be a waste of time.
This could be solved by having general gardening staff to change the batteries regularly until the end of the project.
Problem 3
Financially having many cameras could be quite expensive as well as having gardening staff managing the garden while the students are away. As mentioned previously having the program run with a few school would dilute this cost significantly. Government funding is always available for green learning initiatives by schools. Alternatively less cameras could be purchased with the increased sharing of the footage obtained between the students as it is easily distributable online between peers and even other schools through file sharing software such as ‘DROP BOX’.
ENGLISH
The primary communication tool for the initial setup of the garden project will be focusing on writing, reading, speaking and listening in English. The main focuses are listed below under the VELS and AC framework.
Writing & Reading
- Use writing strategies and structures in texts for different purposes and audiences (VELS, 2009, Level 4).
- Write arguments that state and justify a personal viewpoint (VELS, 2009, Level 5)
- Interpret and respond to a wide range of prints in multimodal formats (VELS, 2009, Level 4)
- Infer meanings and messages in texts (VELS, 2009, Level 5)
- Work independently and collaboratively to solve problems and make decisions (AC, 2011, Personal and Social Competence).
- Respond to or create texts that present issues or arguments based on data (AC, 2011, Numeracy)
- Develop skills in using ICT when conducting research, a range of digital technologies to create, publish and present their learning (AC, 2011, ICT).
ICT Components
- MSOffice or Google Docs
- Plan and write a wide range of text types such as a persuasive proposal, data report or fundraising poster.
- Create information cards or posters on seasonal vegetables and flowers by using MsWord and laminate them to put in the garden. It can be extended to information about parts of the garden such as compost, worm farm and soil and harvest information.
- Publish a column in the paper-based and online school newsletter.
- Microsoft Power Point or Prezi
- As a fundraising strategy for the school, community and parents; students create and present persuasive presentations with data, budget needs, strategies and pictures garden plans. Students can embed videos of persuasive speeches or comments by other students onto Prezi in order to evoke impact and emotions to persuade stakeholders.
- Start a garden blog to update and involve the school and community with garden news and reviews. The blog will be the central domain that contains all the online contents such as student projects, podcasts, pictures, videos, games, plant and harvest information and garden bed planning.
- Create information projects such “Where does our sandwiches come from?” and publish them online onto a bulletin. Students can link their projects to the garden blog and receive feedback.
- Email
- Use email as a form of written communication tool to other students, specialists, students from abroad or other stakeholders.
- Students can search for appropriate rubrics for assessment on persuasive writing, speeches, debating or information pack for other students.
Speaking & Listening
- Identify opinions and propose other relevant viewpoints and extend ideas (VELS, 2009, Level 4).
- Critically evaluate spoken language and select, prepare and present spoken texts for specific audiences and purposes (VELS, 2009, Level 5).
- Communicate confidently at school and become effective individuals, community members, workers and citizens (AC, 2011, Literacy).
- Develop communication skills for conversation, negotiation and the expression of viewpoints and arguments (AC, 2011, Personal and Social Competence).
- Use of communication technologies to collaborate and communicate with others both within and beyond the classroom (AC, 2011, ICT).
ICT Components
- The application can be used to communicate beyond the school and exchange with garden experts from other countries and students from abroad.
- Join and start a classroom exchange with similar interests and goals. Students can create a fresh interest on the garden project to see if any other schools from all over the world would like to join and share ideas. This will broaden their horizon and learn beyond the classroom.
- Create pod-casts and upload into the garden blog.
- Create weekly video journals by capturing movie with digital cameras or iPads. After editing, students can post the video into the garden blog. Students can use this for their time-lapse recording too.
- Create an information report by drawing on storyboard panels and embedding voice-overs.
- Use it as a planner with voice-overs.
Assessment in English
- Conduct peer assessment on each others’ written work such as proofreading and feedback.
- Check accordingly to rubrics for the specific writing style.
- Before publishing, students email thjeir peer reviewed and edited work to teacher for feedback.
- Use a checklist or note taking as evidence to provide constructive and positive feedback to the speaker.
- Record and analyse speakers and give feedback.
- Use rubric from Rubistar to conduct a personal reflection on how student spoke and contributed in the tasks.
Part 2: Requirements and Implementation in English
- Resources
- The school may not have a small piece of land for students to create a garden so the students will need to look for alternate ways to create a garden such as barrels or raised vegetable beds.
- The students and school will need to find a way to fund the garden project. It is crucial for the garden committee to write persuasive proposals to the community and parents for funding and donation.
- From the list in Table 1, all the online websites are free resources and require time to sign-up and login. Students can confer with teachers or IT administrators on issues with privacy and entity when creating an account for the websites.
- Will require internet access for researching and communicating with others.
- Students will need help from IT administrators to install softwares such as SKYPE.
- A budget is needed for purchasing software and hardware such as iPad, Audacity and iMovie but there are free apps and alternatives online.
- Cameras, headphones, microphones, iPad and other recording devices can be brought from home or borrowed from the school.
- PD
- Supervising teachers for the garden project will need to attend PD on horticulture for school. Stephanie Alexander offers PD and short courses on garden projects for schools.
- The ICT tools in the planner are mostly web based and the websites offer guides to use their sites. Teachers and students will need to set aside some time to go through the learning process.
- Timetabling
- Since this is a group of level 4 and 5 students, they will need to set a time and day to meet and discuss the garden project. It may need to be before or after school and during recess and lunchtime. Otherwise, students can negotiate with classroom or subject teachers to release them for 1 or 2 sessions per week and students will make up their own time to catch up with classroom work.
- Once the proposals are approved and the materials are ready, then the project can be incorporated into English, Mathematics, science, woodwork and integration units.
- The committee and school will need to work out how to tend to the garden during school holidays.
End of the project.
At the end of the project students are then to be educated on the process of harvesting, how vegetables are commercially produced on a large scale, packaged and boxed then ultimately how it end ups in their lunch box to complete the journey of their project.
As a future extension for the garden project, there is room to integrate with other learning areas such as History, Geography, Ceramics, LOTE, Economics, Health and Physical Education and Home Economics into the garden project.
References
1. Subrahmanyam, K. & Greenfield, P. (1994). Effect of video game practice on spatial skills in boys and girls. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 15, 13-32
Appendix
Table1: List of ICT tools.
Tasks Tools | Details |
| MS Office (Word, Power Point, Excel, Movie Maker) | School resource |
| Google Docs | Online - free Username and login into https://docs.google.com/ |
| Prezi | Online - free Username and login into http://prezi.com/ |
| Wordpress | Online – free Username and login into http://wordpress.org/ |
| Stixy | Online – free Username and login into http://www.stixy.com/ |
| Rubistar | Online – free Access (http://rubistar.4teachers.org/). |
| SKYPE | Online – free for SKYPE to SKYPE Free online software. |
| ePals | Online – free Username and login into http://www.epals.com/ |
| Apple Audacity | Software cost |
| Digital voice recording equipment | School resource |
| Apple iMovie | Software cost |
| Digital camera | School resource |
| iPad | Purchase or students can BYO. |
