Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

30 minutes – Tune In: Understanding Organic Farming
20 minutes – Find Out: The Design Project
45 minutes – Take Action: Constructing a Prototype
25 minutes – Reflection

Tune In: Understanding Organic Farming

Step 1.

Begin the lesson by providing students with the opportunity to activate their prior knowledge in relation to the topic of farming. Do this by asking the questions below and recording student responses onto a mind map on a poster or the whiteboard.

Questions: What is farming? Why is it important?

Your mind map may look something like the following:

Step 2.

Ensure that the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are displayed or written on the board and read them aloud to students.

Students will...

... understand how a home garden can grow their own organic produce.

Students can...

... explain what organic food is.
... explain how I can grow my own organic food.
... design a vegetable garden for my home or school.
... use construction materials to create a model of a vegetable garden.

Step 3.

Show the following clip:

The Organic Farm (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HodaFCFlNEg)

Step 4.

Using the Think-Pair-Share technique, invite students to consider the question:

What was different about the two types of farming discussed in the clip?

Think Pair Share
Think pair share is a collaborative learning strategy in which students work together to solve a problem or answer a question.

Think - students independently think about an issue or question and record their thoughts.
Pair - students work in pairs to discuss their ideas and record new thoughts.
Share - students share their thoughts with the whole group or with other pairs to reach consensus.

Step 5.

Explain to students that they will draw a picture to show how the animals felt when eating the food from their own farm (organic) and the vegetable farm (chemically treated).

Provide students with the Organic Farm Worksheet and allow 15 minutes for them to complete the activity.

It is important to move forward with the lesson after the 15 minutes has passed to ensure that there is sufficient time for the subsequent stages. If students have not completed their pictures they could do them as a home task or at another suitable time.

Find Out: Design the Project

Step 1.

Invite students to discuss what they know about the sources of their food.

You may ask questions such as:

Where do we get our fresh food from?
Do we know exactly where our food has been grown?
Do we know exactly how our food has been grown?

End the discussion by emphasising that a great way to know exactly what goes into your fruit and vegetables is to grow it yourself.

Step 2.

Explain to students that they will be designing a model of a vegetable garden that could be built either at home or at school to grow their own fresh produce. Before explaining the task, provide students with time to set up resources. This ensures that they are ready to begin once all instructions have been given.

To set up:

Ensure each student has placed a piece of boxboard on their table.
Ensure all students have access to icy-pole sticks of each size (3cm, 5cm, 10cm).
Ensure all students have access to tacky glue (one bottle per 3 students recommended).
Ensure all students are wearing an art smock.

Once set-up is complete, have all students return to the floor with a pencil, eraser and a workbook to lean on, ready to discuss the design challenge.

Step 3.

Display the Vegetable Garden Design Challenge Sheet either as a printed A3 copy or projected for the class to see. Read aloud to the class, providing the opportunity for students to ask questions if unsure of expectations.

Step 4.

Provide students with the Vegetable Garden Design Sketch Worksheet.

Explain to the class that they will be viewing some examples of raised garden beds and that once the video is complete, they will have 5 minutes of silent time to think about and begin sketching their own ideas. Show the video below.

How to DESIGN a RAISED BED GARDEN: 10 SIMPLE STEPS (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ90rjgIDSI)

Now, provide 5 minutes of time for students to sketch ideas for their garden.

Step 6.

Once sketching time is complete, invite students to form pairs to share their ideas. Encourage students to make changes to their design as they talk about with their partner.

Take Action: Constructing a Prototype

Step 1.

Explain to students that they will now be constructing a model to show what their garden would look like. Emphasise that while each student will be creating their own design, they may have to work together at times to help join or assemble designs.

Step 2.

Depending on what materials you are using, show students how to make and join walls for their garden beds using icy-pole sticks or plasticine (for instance).

Consider providing students with the Icy-pole Construction Sheet at this stage.

Step 3.

Provide 40 minutes for students to work on their model. During this time, roam around the classroom assisting students as needed. Ensure that you move between students, aiming to find time to discuss designs with each individual. When you foresee a challenge students will face, use questions to support them to find their own solutions to design issues. This will allow you to scaffold them to develop their own critical and creative thinking skills and to be resilient when faced with challenges.

Some examples of questions you may ask in these situations are:

Is there another way you could do it?
Have any other students faced the same problem?
What options do you have?

Reflection

Step 1.

Once 40 minutes has passed (with 25 minutes of the lesson remaining), prompt students to stop work and explain the pack up procedures. Be sure to explain:

How students should put their name on their work.
Where completed designs should be placed.
Where work in progress should be placed.
Where each resource is to be packed away.

Ensure that you remind students when they will have the opportunity to complete their unfinished designs (determined at your discretion). It is recommended that this additional time is provided during the school day to ensure that all students have access to the resources provided.

Step 2.

Now, explain that students will be thinking about a range of questions with a partner to reflect on their learning during this lesson. Emphasise that students will be thinking about the model they created as well as their own thinking and actions.

Display the Vegetable Garden Reflection Questions as either an A3 printed copy or projected for the class to see and read aloud, explaining each question:

What is good about having a vegetable garden at home?
How do you feel about the vegetable garden you designed?
What were the easiest parts of designing your garden?
What was challenging when designing your garden?

Step 3.

Provide time for students to discuss each question with a partner, ensuring that each student in the pair has a turn to share.

While students are engaged in their reflective discussion, roam around, engaging in student conversations. This provides you with the opportunity to observe student ability to critically reflect on their own choices, actions and learning and gives an opportunity for you to scaffold their thinking where suitable.

Taking It Further

Invite students to think about how they would choose to paint or decorate their garden beds. They can use fine tip markers to draw the design onto their garden bed model. When completing this component of the lesson, prompt students to consider whether they want their garden bed to stand out from the environment or blend into it and to consider a theme for the artwork being developed.

Differentiated Learning

Extension

Encourage students to consider shapes other than rectangles that can be used to form garden bed designs. Could they use triangles? Could garden beds have curved edges? As well as extending visual-spatial skills, this also requires students to problem solve how to use the materials to create different shapes or form bends.

Provisions for Learning Support

Students who have difficulty finding solutions in open-ended tasks could work in a group with the teacher to develop a design, or could work in a pair with another student.

Students who have difficulty with the construction element of the task could be given a copy of the step-by-step assembly instructions to refer to. They can also be encouraged to request assistance from peers when they need support.

STEAM - Design an Organic Garden

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

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Curriculum Mapping

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