The Demonstration
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| 'The success of every plant lies in its germination'....... and old saying in Kannada |
Seed germination is such a mysterious creation that those who had an
opportunity to observe it very closely would undergo a different feeling
altogether. Many school children in their higher primary class have a chance of
conduct the various germination experiments. And in the process of waiting to
unravel a mystery are filled with limitless joy all through the day. The fascinating aspect of life emanating out
of a “life-less” looking object induce many questions in the young minds. Scientific
interpretation of the process consolidates all the puzzling imaginations
rushing through the child’s mind and fixes them into sequential frameworks.
Observing the same phenomenon under a number of ‘real’ situations would more
successfully give more clarity to the many riddles in the child’s mind. Exposing
a child repeatedly to such a pattern of guided learning, logical thinking gradually
sets root in its mind. Aspects such as awe, beauty and creativity- should form
part of the education of children today and are more likely to happen through
such practical approaches. They would offer a great challenge for all the
people involved in education, especially teachers.
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| Gardening demo for the rural-agriculturalist's children |
Another benefit of such science education is its contribution to developing
ways of thinking. Many scientific ideas are counter-intuitive as we know from
many investigations. Studies have shown in a variety of contexts that thinking
scientifically helps develop new ways of thinking; it widens and deepens our
capacities to think. Thinking about and with scientific ideas means we have to
think in new ways that offer powerful possibilities for the future, and are not
often spontaneously available without teaching.
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| Brewing the recepie for a fruitful soil |
We started with a three minute clipping of Epigeal Seed germination
shot on time lapse mode. The seed of a climbing bean starts to swell, imbibing
water and the cotyledons crack open to send out a Hypocotyle (shoot) and a Radicle
(root). Like a living creature it adjusts its position so that the two appendages
are set in the right direction. The Radicle, grow into the soil digging through
the soil particles and sets out many minute root hairs to increase the surface
area of the root. This enhances the surface area coming in contact with the
soil to absorb water. The Hypocotyle grows up against gravity towards the sky
making use of all the stored nutrition in the seed. This stored nutrition is
what fuels the process of germination in every seed. Life is dormant in a seed
for many years and can suddenly be triggered by exposure to moisture.
Scientists have found that corns offered to the kings some two thousand years
ago found in their tombs successfully germinated showing the long shelf life of
the species.
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| Alternating a seed bed with a trench of mulch |
The hour long discussion about the germinating seed in every school had
a tremendous response from the children. The prolonged stay upon the topic
enabled us to get into the smallest of details of the phenomenon. Across the
classes from sixth to tenth we were cautious not to use unnecessary jargons for
their age. Some kids were so engrossed
in the subject and we felt that they were able to perceive the hardships of a germinating
seed. They were
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| Digging a trench three feet deep |
confident of telling about the requirements of a seed to
successfully germinate. Based on the thickness of the seed coat they could
gauge how long would it take to sprout? How loose, coarse and damp should the
soil be? How deep should the seed be sown and more essential information
required in the field?
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| Filling the trench with dry waste to increase the carbon content |
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| Filling with green foliage to augment the nitrogen content |
Now it was time for us to move on to the outdoors. After knowing the
essentials of the germinating seed what is the type of soil we are starting our
garden. We gathered in a large circle
exactly where the kitchen garden had to be raised. In the center stage was
Rajan who performed with all his persuasive skills. He began with how to
identify good soil? He showed simple ways to look for soil properties. Some
soil samples were full of life and some were ‘dead’ and not fit for gardening.
He explained about the texture, moisture holding capacity, chemical nature,
it’s PH and so on. If these components are missing how do you supplement or
correct it? Every thing went on in a demonstration mode.
Some schools had
literally compressed dust particles and had no organic content in it.
Practically they were all like a play grounds. We made use of the opportunity
to impart more essential information about preparing the soil. Thanks to the mid day meal scheme in the
schools, food is cooked every day and help a corner of the school remain wet
all through. This gave us different soils for examination. With simple
equipment like a bucket and a mug and a water bottle we demonstrated many
experiments with soil that tell its properties.
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| Inspecting the sowing in waste pet bottles |
Based on the availability of material and space in the
schools suitable methods were demonstrated. These plots were approximately of 20
to 30 sq. feet and physically quite demanding upon us to tame the land for
gardening. The idea of this practical demonstration session was to anchor the
verbal orientation session with practical training. We instructed on organic
gardening techniques, including composting, bio-pesticide preparation and use,
planting, watering techniques.
In some schools where there was lack of space and water we
demonstrated planting in various types of containers like empty bottles and
polythene bags. This demonstration garden are encouraged to be used as an out
door environment laboratory and the vegetables be used for the mid day meals.
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