The master of grasping Fushou snail started from childhood! Fuan Primary School in Meinung has "agricultural elements" in every class, and the whole school grows nutritious lunches together.

0 sharing

The Fushou snail, which makes the farmers' brains troublesome, cannot escape the palms of these children! The Fu'an Primary School in Meinong, Kaohsiung, implements agriculture in all its courses. The math class calculates the yield changes under different crops, areas and field designs. In addition to farming in the fields, the nature class also learns how to make snail traps. With good results, the children's self-tillage output is not only increased by 5%, but also won the second place in the Kaohsiung City Science Competition.

Chuang Tsung-Lin, principal of Fuan Primary School in Meinung, says that in the future, it is planned to take children to do experiments on post-harvest and processing of agricultural products, such as ripening of fruits and vegetables, processing tests of different causes, and so on, so that agriculture will become the best place for children to learn.

The master of grasping Fushou snail started from childhood! Every class in Fuan Primary School in Meinung has elements of agriculture, and nutritious lunches are grown by themselves.

Fushou snail trap 1 made by Fu'an Primary School (photo courtesy of Zhuang Zonglin)

Fuan Primary School in Meinong spent 13 years to build agricultural characteristic courses.

In recent years, agricultural education has been promoted in primary and secondary schools all over Taiwan. Fu'an Primary School in Meinung, Kaohsiung, began to integrate agriculture into all courses 13 years ago. "We are rural schools with the goal of creating the availability of knowledge." Zhuang Zonglin, principal of Fuan Primary School in Meinung, said that this year is the fifth year that he has come to Fu'an Primary School to take office.

"We are closely related to agriculture, so we choose to develop courses with agricultural characteristics." Chuang Tsung-Lin says that Meinung is rural, but as a rural school, Fu'an Primary School has no walls, its own fields are nearby, there are abundant water sources nearby, and most of the students' families have backgrounds such as farming and agricultural extension, so they are very supportive of agricultural courses.

With regard to the origin and origin of the agricultural curriculum teaching plan, Zhuang Zonglin said that 13 years ago, elementary school teachers began to gradually link agriculture-related activities to different curriculum themes, from the beginning of spot-like activities. through rolling improvement and teachers' joint preparation of lessons, it has developed into a now mature teaching plan.

"for agricultural courses or activities, the most fear is to set off fireworks for a while." Chuang Tsung-Lin explains that taking rice as an example, transplanting rice seedlings is the most common agricultural activity, but the goal must be to develop a teaching plan that "any teacher can easily use it." only in this way can all courses with agricultural characteristics be sustainable.

Education for small dill farmers in Fu'an State, combining agriculture with different subjects (Photo courtesy of Zhuang Zonglin)

Agriculture was integrated into the National English Society, and the whole school followed the solar terms to go to the fields.

The core of the agricultural characteristic curriculum of Fu'an Primary School is "dill farming". The reason is that all courses and activities are designed and held with seasons, 24 solar terms and various crop seasons, and all courses integrate agricultural elements. including Chinese, mathematics, nature, society, arts, sports and health.

Chuang Tsung-Lin gives an example: in Chinese classes, teachers will ask children to recite poems and literature on agricultural topics, or write essays on agricultural topics; math classes will let children try to calculate yields under different crops, different areas, and field designs; and science classes will teach children about organic farming, diseases and insect pests, and fertilization.

There are about 80 students in the entire elementary school, including kindergartens. Zhuang Zonglin says that every Thursday morning self-study time is a time for the whole school to go to the fields together, and there will be different curriculum goals and curriculum designs for children of different ages. "the whole school has to participate in transplanting rice seedlings. The agricultural course for kindergarten children only goes to transplanting rice seedlings, and the curriculum goal for junior children is to be close to the land. Fertilizing and snail catching are more difficult only for the middle and senior grades."

"there is still some progress pressure on all courses, so the courses cannot be 100% agricultural." Zhuang Zonglin said that the school's time to go to the field together is early on Thursday, which is not strictly speaking, but all teachers will integrate agriculture into curriculum activities as much as possible, such as adding a snail trap to the natural environment course. the teacher took the students to the field to do the experiment.

The whole school of Fu'an Primary School transplants rice seedlings together (photo courtesy of Zhuang Zonglin)

Teachers and students work together to make a snail trap, and the output of the school field is increased by 5%.

The addition of experimental elements to natural environment courses is a new attempt made by Chuang Tsung-Lin after he came to school. "originally, all natural environment courses are about organic farming, but then we have to constantly stimulate students to think." He said that because he does not use any pesticides and herbicides, children will be taught to flood rice fields in the early stages of rice cultivation to reduce the probability of weed seed germination.

To deal with the nerve-racking snails in the rice fields, last year, Guo Xinbo, a school teacher, took the children in class and made a simple snail trap out of five-liter plastic buckets and special agricultural products such as tomatoes, cabbage, and rice bran. Let the children put the rice field to observe the trapping and the effect on the yield.

What are the results of the experiment? Zhuang Zonglin said that the rice field of Fu'an Primary School has an annual output of about 4,000 jin. Last year, the experiment found that the annual output increased by 5%, and the captured Fushu snail can also be used as feed for parents who are raising ducks and geese. Make ducks and geese healthier and stronger, so that children can see that all elements in the farmland can be recycled.

Guo Xinbo, a teacher at Fu'an Primary School (dressed in pink), asked the students to test the Fushou snail trap (photo courtesy of Zhuang Zonglin)

Grow your own nutritious lunch and make Hakka cuisine, pickles and red vegetables in snow

Fu'an Primary School has nearly a quarter of the rice field and one part of the vegetable field. Where are all the crops harvested? "it's all in the belly of the teacher and the children." Zhuang Zonglin said with a smile that the cost of nutritious lunch at Fu'an Primary School is lower than that of other elementary schools, because some of the nutritious lunch materials in the school are planted by children, while the rest are purchased from organically certified farmers' parents.

"We don't have many people, and one phase of rice cultivation is enough for us to eat for a year." Zhuang Zonglin said that rice, cabbage and corn will be harvested by the whole school. For example, corn will be harvested in April, and these harvests will be used for nutritious lunches, thus saving a lot of food expenses, and some of the ingredients will also be processed.

"some of the rice will be made into companion gifts for campus visitors, but it will only be given away and not sold." For example, Chuang Tsung-Lin says that in addition to cooking, rice will also give gifts, and a large part of it will work with local shops nearby to make Hakka cuisine, while the harvested mustard will teach children to make Hakka pickles or snow red. These processed products will be added to the nutritious lunch.

Small vegetable harvest in Fu'an State (photo courtesy of Zhuang Zonglin)

There are concerts in the fields, and urban children want to turn around. Only by hand-cutting rice and climbing mountains can they graduate.

Zhuang Zonglin, who used to live in the city with a math teacher's background, says that urban children and rural children have very different attitudes towards land. For example, some urban children think that mud is so dirty that they dare not plant rice seedlings. But rural children like to go to the fields and play with mud, "because this is part of rural life."

Chuang Tsung-Lin says that in the past, urban elementary school students came to Fu'an Primary School for exchanges. At first, they were not familiar with planting rice seedlings, but when they left, they fell in love with the land. "these children said that Fu'an Primary School was very fun, and they also said they wanted to transfer." The only thing that can be done in the field is not only transplanting rice seedlings, but also holding a concert in the field.

"the yellow rice waves before harvest are the only beautiful scenery in the countryside." Chuang Tsung-Lin explains that in the past, parent-child transplanting activities were held. Last year, a rice field concert was held for the first time. Cellists were invited to play in the rice waves. Nearly 300 people participated in the concert. This year, it is planned for children to play in the fields.

The graduation ceremony of an elementary school full of "farmers" is also quite special. "in January, all teachers and students of the school transplant rice seedlings with their parents, and during the graduation season in May, graduates have to cut rice by hand." Chuang Tsung-Lin said that sixth-grade children personally cut rice and threshing rice to experience the traditional rice harvest, while at the graduation ceremony, they will be allowed to climb the back mountain of the school, climb to the top of the mountain to get their diploma, and give a speech on what they have learned over the past six years.

Group photo of Fu'an Primary School and Urban Primary School (photo courtesy of Zhuang Zonglin)

In the future, take the child to continue the experiment and give the child the study that can be brought back to home.

What kind of new curriculum will the school develop in the future? Chuang Tsung-Lin said that the Fushou snail trap won the second place in the science competition in Kaohsiung City last year, which is a great affirmation for the children. Next, it will continue to plan to take the children to do a variety of agricultural products experiments. For example, the ripening of fruits and vegetables, the processing test of different factors.

Chuang Tsung-Lin explains that crops are not only produced, but the subsequent transportation and processing are also very important. Next, they will take the children to learn about the preservation and ripening experiments needed in the transportation process after fruit and vegetable harvest. "Let the child try to experiment with apples, different temperatures, etc., and record the taste and taste of the crops under different ripening conditions."

Zhuang Zonglin said that the processed agricultural products of the local Hakkas are a major feature, and children are also taught to make processed products in ordinary courses, and subsequent experiments are being planned for children to make processed products with the same ingredients at different temperatures, salinity, or seasons. And record the processing results, so that children learn the basic principles of processing.

"our teaching goal is to create the availability of knowledge." Chuang Tsung-Lin says that all the courses that add agricultural elements to the school will be more motivated and fun for children, because all the knowledge and content they have learned can be brought home and used immediately. "courses and learning is life. Life is learning."