Mr. Sesay was worried that some students in his Science class did not get a good balanced diet. Many had family plots at home for growing food, but these did not always yield a good harvest.
Mr. Sesay decided to set his class a competition to research good techniques for growing crops on a small scale and improving the diet of the local community. He explained they should base their research on talking to people they know and other people in the community, and that he wanted them to use their scientific knowledge to explain the techniques that they heard about.
He divided the class into groups of four students. He asked each group to display their findings in a poster and told them that there would be a prize for the best plan. He put the judging criteria on the classroom wall so that the students could see what he would be looking for and plan their work accordingly.
The groups were very excited about starting the research project and tackled it in different ways. For example, Sheku’s group went down to the local market. They picked the stall with the nicest looking vegetables and chatted to the owner about how he grows them.
Bassie’s aunt works in a local clinic. Bassie asked her aunt about the sorts of illnesses that local people have. As a group, they worked out what kinds of food would help improve local diets and reduce the likelihood of illness due to nutrient deficiencies.
Mr. Sesay was delighted with how engaged the students were with the local research task. In addition, he noticed a small plot of land that belonged to the school, but which was not being used. He decided to ask the school principal if he could use this plot with his class to develop a small garden to grow vegetables and fruit.