Teaching Of Biology Field Trip Report

PCB513 The Teaching of Biology III Field Trip Report Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the module PCB513 Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Sec) (Jan 2005) National Institute of Education 24th May 2005

By: Kamarul Effendi B Juma’at

054087F23

Site Visited: Aero-Green Technology Aeroponics Farm Location: 114 Neo Tiew Crescent, S(718925) 1.1

Facilities Available: Aero-Green Aeroponics Farm has a well-established carefully structured

programme for educational field trips that caters to school groups that range from Upper Primary Level to Secondary Level. When we arrived there during the period of the school break, there was already a field trip group comprising of members of the YMCA youths so it was more of an organized scheduled field trip that we’re joining in. The resource center scheduled their itinerary that was effectively structured, possibly due to the experience of its staff in educating the young of the importance of achieving a certain degree of self-sufficiency in vegetable supply in Singapore, and that one of the ways this could be achieved was through the use of aeroponics as a form of modern intensive agriculture in land-scarce Singapore. The center’s staff conducted its tour formally by introducing the processes and techniques of aeroponics to the visiting group by presenting a half-hour long video detailing the layout of the farm, equipments, processes as well as the principles behind the technique employed. After the presentation, each participant is invited to sample vegetable juices (Lettucino) that are extracted from the very products of the farm. The farm boasts infrastructures that are indeed user-friendly in that there were plenty of shelters available where visitors could rest, and there were well-tarred walkways that link each sections of the farm where the vegetable are in various batches, each batch in one particular stage of development. The tour guide takes us carefully through these stages in a sequential manner, which was particularly helpful as we could see first-hand the processes described in the video earlier on, and could relate to the important points put forward in the presentation. Although over 80% of the raw products of the aeroponics farm are lettuce, they are grown in an area where they are protected from tampering from visitors, and in most cases, the access to these areas were either block totally or are given only viewing from a distance through nets. It was unfortunate, however, that we were unable to have a closer look at these lettuce-growing areas and the equipments like growing troughs, mist dispersal systems and the environment monitoring systems

available there. This was largely due to the damage caused by previous groups of visiting students in the past, and it was pointed out that those areas have to be protected as a necessary precaution to avoid potential damage to the cabbage plants as well as the equipments. In contrast, the open areas that we are given access to, such as the spearmint plot, provide an opportunity for closer examination of the plants. Visitors could touch and feel the leaves, but what was even more interesting was that an attempt to grow temperate plants such as strawberries were carried out, although in a largely experimental phase, we noted that the results so far has been promising. This was achieved by exposing the root system of the plants to conditions similar to that of temperate regions, and by fooling the plant into thinking that it is growing in that area where it thrives, the growth process was somehow accelerated. There were also plenty of specimen products available, and a demonstration growing trough to show students the details of how the nutrient-rich mist were dispersed at intervals of 30 seconds. Although we did not get to view the lettuces in different stages of development much more closer than we had hoped for, we thought that the management are indeed committed into dedicating resources such as these to facilitate first-hand learning for students on the field trip.

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Usefulness in the teaching of secondary Biology Aeroponics is a new technology utilizing fine mists of macronutrients (nitrogen,

phosphorus and potassium) to nourish plant root systems. In contrast to normal methods of agriculture, where the root systems are completely covered in soil, in aeroponics, the roots systems of the plants are completely exposed to air. This has the advantage of practically exposing the plant root system to a virtually unlimited supply of oxygen necessary for growth. This would explain why plants grown using this technique take half the time to reach maturity compared to those grown in conventional methods. In the

context of land-scarce Singapore, where we have a dense population and rate of food supply is limited to only the arable lands available in only certain parts of the country, aeroponics had the potential to bring a certain degree of self-sufficiency in terms of food supply, cutting down dependence on imported vegetables. Thus, not only will students be able to tie in the information from the field trip with the knowledge that were learnt in the topic of Mineral Nutrition in Plants, they will be enriched with knowledge of this new technology that is both interesting and certainly engaging. Another noteworthy point is that in the process of addressing the need for a degree of self-sufficiency in our country in terms of food supplies, the video presentation has in a way highlighted elements of National Education by promoting the awareness of the need for intensive agriculture in the context of Singapore’s vegetable supply. Another point of interest would be the flexibility afforded by the structure of the farm’s farming techniques. In the resource center, the productivity of every inch of the farm is optimized, in the sense that growing troughs are mobile and could be moved to areas where sunlight is more abundant. This is certainly impossible in the context of conventional farming using soil agriculture. Therefore, the potential for high-level order thinking skills is possible. For instance, the teacher could ask at certain juncture of the trip what are the advantages of the troughs being mobile. The teacher could also get students to identify and highlight the advantages of recycling the mineral solution used in the nutrient mist, such as lesser wastage of water (conservation), higher productivity and optimization of nutrients and mineral salts. The teacher could also note to the students that in the case of the farm, the use of pesticides are minimal as pests from soil do not come into the picture and that for this reason, the manual labour required to maintain the farm is substantially lower than that of normal agriculture. Overall, I would think that the field trip would not only acquaints students with newer technologies available in agriculture, its limitations, strengths and advantages, but more to that, it has the potential to instill a certain degree of appreciation of science and ingenuity as a whole, and how it could help us overcome problems or limitations in the context of Singapore, by making students marvel at the powers of science.

Appendix A

Picture 1: Exhibition Growing Trough at the entrance of the farm

Picture 2: Close-up view of the lettuce grown on the trough

Picture 3: View of the interior of the growing trough

Picture 4: View of the nutrient mist-dispersal mechanism

Picture 5: View of lettuces in early stage of development

Picture 6: View of germinating seedlings prior to transplantation on growing troughs

Picture 7: View of mature lettuce plants almost ready for harvesting