Hosted by SALL , contributed by DeustoLearningLab on 1 June 2023
The problem identified has arisen from a real need in the centre. Within this problem, the students have participated by choosing different proposals to carry out the maintenance of the garden.
The problem identified is the need to design and carry out maintenance of the School Garden as a practical learning classroom: They want to maintain the School Garden from one school year to the next; to do this we need to keep the soil of our growing tables nutrient-rich and we need automatic irrigation during the periods that the centre is kept closed.
To do this they want to make the best use of natural resources, taking into account the Sustainable Development Goals that are part of the Agenda2030 curriculum project.
To this end, they propose to install a compost bin and an automatic irrigation system for the School Garden in order to be able to maintain it as a Collaborative Learning Classroom in the coming years.
The students will end up building their own compost bin and irrigation system based on the selection by consensus of the best designed project. Once built, a comparison will be made with similar solutions on the market.
Antecedentes
IES Bertendona BHI has participated in a specific training of the PRESTGARA programme organised by the national coordinators of SALL in Spain, the University of Deusto, and as a result of this training course they have designed this school garden project following the Living Lab methodology. Their objective was to design STEAM projects and the Living Lab methodology has been very interesting for them to organise the ideas, to propose an active and meaningful methodology to the students, to integrate learning from various subjects and to share learning with other agents outside the school. The project has started in 2023 and will be carried out also during the next school year.
Objetivo
The problem identified is the need to design and carry out maintenance of the School Garden as a practical learning classroom: They want to maintain the School Garden from one school year to the next; to do this we need to keep the soil of our growing tables nutrient-rich and we need automatic irrigation during the periods that the centre is kept closed.
To do this they want to make the best use of natural resources, taking into account the Sustainable Development Goals that are part of the Agenda2030 curriculum project.
To this end, they propose to install a compost bin and an automatic irrigation system for the School Garden in order to be able to maintain it as a Collaborative Learning Classroom in the coming years.
To this end, studies will be carried out on:
- The resources of the School Garden and the School.
- Atmospheric conditions in our city
- Renewable energies
- Composting and Vermicomposting
- Photovoltaic solar panels
- Arduino controller
It will be carried out:
- composting system designs and sketches
- irrigation system designs and sketches
Implementación
This project is designed to be worked on for weeks, in which teachers must be attentive to deliveries so that no group is late in its submission.
For the formation of the cooperative teams (minimum 2 persons, maximum 4 ) there has to be one of the following roles:
- Project leader: this is the person who heads the project, reviews deadlines, gives feedback and reflections on the work done, presents progress, reviews outstanding, supports the other roles, distributes the work with respect to the skills of the others and has responsibility for all other fields or roles.
- Designer and creative: this is the person in charge of creating and designing prototypes or works in 2D or 3D, their strong point is to be able to capture the ideas of others and their own, turning them into a tangible product. Helps solve qualitative problems.
- Calculation operator: their strength is logical-mathematical processes, performing mathematical operations, understanding scientific phenomena. Helps to solve quantitative problems.
- Searcher: a person who is highly skilled in searching and identifying valid and correct information from different reliable sources or resources. His/her speciality is to consult and research on the topic assigned to him/her. Helps to provide and discriminate information to solve quantitative and qualitative problems.
For the development of the prototype, the students first design a series of posters to be hung in the school in order to publicise the problem that has been posed and different solutions to it.
Once the first investigations have been carried out by the students, they start with the design on paper and transfer it to Sketchup or Tinkercad with measurements to scale for the sketch of the solutions proposed by the students.
In the research work they use:
- laboratory elements for the study of the earth
- weather stations for the study of environmental conditions.
With all the proposed solutions, the most effective and least costly on an environmental and economic level is chosen.
Finally, in the Technology Workshop, the construction of the compost bin and the irrigation system will be carried out.
The topics that students will review for the irrigation system will be:
1. Solar energy theoretical part
1.1 What are renewable energies?
1.2 What is photovoltaic solar energy?
1.3 How does a solar panel work?
1.4 What is solar radiation and what impacts does it have on health?
2. Structure of a photovoltaic system
2.1 Parts of a photovoltaic solar system and their function
2.2 Analysis and reading of the home's energy billing and its energy consumption.
2.3 Calculations of the photovoltaic system
3. Study of Arduino and its controllers
3.1 Breadboard
3.2 Controllers
3.3 Coding
4. Prototype design
4.1 Quotation of the products for the assembly of the system
4.2 Investment analysis: Costs and expenses
4.3 Design in plans or model of how the system will be installed
4.4 Pitch video: Showing and explaining the plans or models and the selection criteria of the materials.
4.5 Written work that documents what was done during the project.