Increasing sustainability at school with our school garden
Title: Increasing sustainability at school with our school garden
Inmaculada Argüelles Suárez, Paola de la Peña Fernández
C.P. Ablaña-Pereda, La Pereda – Asturias – Spain
| Introduction | What is it about: Redesing our school vegetable patch
Who is it for (age group) :
Short outline of what will happen during the course/Project: This project is about creating new spaces in our vegetable patch at school and improving the ones that are already being used. The students have designed some window boxes to hang on the school fence in order to create a vertical garden. They also created a greenhouse to grow plants during bad weather conditions. Along the way the students learnt about the properties of different materials to use in the garden, how to apply eco-friendly methods to the garden and how to make designs for digital fabrication The students will work as a group and follow the phases of the Design Circle.
Link to other subjects/courses? Science, Maths, English. |
| Pre-knowledge | In previous lessons we have studied botanics, the water cycle, the weather and the seasons of the year. We have worked in the garden before last year. |
| Learning goals
Soft skills (21st century skills?) Knowledge (theoretical skills) Practical skills |
· Apply the ICTs to create a greenhouse for the school
· Improve the creativity and foster the imagination · Manipulate different materials · Debate and defend one´s ideas · earn about eco gardens and how to make ours more efficient |
| Time | In the school the sessions last 50 minutes, at the FabLab in La Laboral 3 hours. |
| Assessment | How will the students be graded: following the spanish curriculum of education. The lessons and the project is designed to fit the criteria. The evaluation of the work in class within each subject is given by the curriculum. The
work in the FabLab at La Laboral is evaluated by the achievement of the objectives for each session. |
| Resources | The teacher who manages the project and works with the students ( the teacher needs to know the computer programmes and at least a basic knowlegde of the machines). At the FabLab it is necessary someone who knows how to use the laser cut, the printers…
Facilities: A FabLab |
| Materials | School supplies (paper, pencils, colors,etc)
Computers Cardboard PLA Methacrylate |
Lesson 1-5
| Introduction
Brief description of what the lesson is about |
Design of the greenhouse |
| Time
Amount of lessen + minutes per lesson (i.e. 2 lessons of 50 minutes) |
2 lessons: two at school (50 minutes each) one at Laboral (3 hours) |
| Phase of the DBL model | Design brief, field study,ideation, fabrication |
| Lesson goals/design output | -Design a green house for the vegetable patch of the school |
| What will the students have achieved after this lesson? For instance: the student will have 12 new ideas | -Star to work with the desgin brief. Learning what is a FabLab
-Learn the different phases of the wheel. At the end of this sessions students have had created a green house |
| Activity
Description of what the students will be doing |
Do a field study about what is already out there. After that, measure the the vegetable patch in order to know the measures of the green house they have to design. Create a model using cardboard, and see if it fits in our garden. At the FabLab desgin the final model using tinkercard, makercase and
ikscape. Cut it in methacrylate using the laser cut. |
| Materials
Overview of what materials needed (also think about powerpoints etc) |
School supplies (paper, pencils, colors,etc) Computers
Cardboard PLA Methacrylate |
| Learning goals
Soft skills (21st century skills?) Knowledge (theoretical skills) Practical skills |
-Apply the ICTs to create a greenhouse for the school
-Improve the creativity and foster the imagination -Manipulate different materials Learning goal 4 Learning goal 5 |
| Extra
Challenges and help you can provide students with who are either faster or slower than average |
|
| Tips from an expert | Familiarize yourself with the programmes (tinkercard, inkscape…) |
Lesson 6-14
| Introduction
Brief description of what the lesson is about |
Design, create and build a window box in order to create a vertical garden in the fence of the school |
| Time
Amount of lessen + minutes per lesson (i.e. 2 lessons of 50 minutes) |
2 lessons: two at school (50 minutes each) three at Laboral (9 hours) |
| Phase of the DBL model | Design brief, field study,ideation, fabrication |
| Lesson goals/design output What will the students have achieved after this lesson? For instance: the student will have 12 new ideas | -Keep improving their creative skills
-Learn about the different materials that can be used in the laser cut. Choose the most suitable one for the plants At the end of this sessions, students will be more independent while working with the technology |
| Activity
Description of what the students will be doing |
Do a field study about what is already out there. After that, measure the fence of the school in order to know the measures of the window box they have to design. Create a model using cardboard, and see if it fits in our fence. At the FabLab desgin the final model using tinkercard, makercase and inkscape. Cut
it in methacrylate using the laser cut. |
| Materials
Overview of what materials needed (also think about powerpoints etc) |
School supplies (paper, pencils, colors,etc) Computers
Cardboard PLA Methacrylate |
| Learning goals
Soft skills (21st century skills?) Knowledge (theoretical skills) Practical skills |
-Debate and defend one´s ideas
-Learn about eco gardens and how to make ours more efficient |
| Extra
Challenges and help you can provide students with who are either faster or slower than average |
|
| Tips from an expert | Be patient. The results don’t come at the same time. Each student has a different input and output working with FabLab |