St. Mary’s Muhaisnah Greening Project is an innovative new addition to the range of learning experiences of the Primary students of years 3-6. It enables making cross curricular links between science and geography while providing the opportunity of gaining knowledge of the real world. In addition, the joy of seeing plants grow as a result of the effort one puts in caring for them adds to the wellbeing of the person.
The students brought in seeds from their home kitchens and sowed them in pots. At first, they prepared the pots with gardening soil and planted the seeds and watered them. Running their fingers through the soil and using the shovel and the watering can was indeed a thrilling experience for them.
Every week, each year level from Years 3-6 , will take care of their own garden and learn valuable lessons in patience, perseverance and resilience . Gardening is also a lesson in risk taking as there is no guarantee in the process. Observation, investigation and problem solving are an integral part of growing a garden. Through the learning journal that they will maintain over the weeks, their ability to recognize cause and effect will be honed. The play of temperature of the day and the amount of water needed in the soil is a calculation that will be learnt on the job. In analyzing what went well or what went wrong and how to arrive at a better solution, the students will learn to be metacognitive too. With every problem faced, they will research about how to overcome it in future and try again.
That vegetable waste can actually be used to produce new plants by using the seeds that are normally thrown away in cities or for making organic manure from the peel that is discarded every day, is a lesson in recycling and sustainability. The interest developed today through this simple gardening experience may well be a humble beginning to empowering the students in finding a solution to the rising food crisis one day.
