PCB513The Teaching of Biology III

Field Trip Report

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the module PCB513

Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Sec) (Jan 2005)National Institute of Education

24th May 2005

By:Kamarul Effendi B Juma’at 054087F23

Site Visited: Aero-Green Technology Aeroponics FarmLocation: 114 Neo Tiew Crescent, S(718925)

1.1 Facilities Available:

Aero-Green Aeroponics Farm has a well-established carefully structured

programme for educational field trips that caters to school groups that range from Upper

Primary Level to Secondary Level. When we arrived there during the period of the school

break, there was already a field trip group comprising of members of the YMCA youths

so it was more of an organized scheduled field trip that we’re joining in. The resource

center scheduled their itinerary that was effectively structured, possibly due to the

experience of its staff in educating the young of the importance of achieving a certain

degree of self-sufficiency in vegetable supply in Singapore, and that one of the ways this

could be achieved was through the use of aeroponics as a form of modern intensive

agriculture in land-scarce Singapore.

The center’s staff conducted its tour formally by introducing the processes and

techniques of aeroponics to the visiting group by presenting a half-hour long video

detailing the layout of the farm, equipments, processes as well as the principles behind

the technique employed. After the presentation, each participant is invited to sample

vegetable juices (Lettucino) that are extracted from the very products of the farm. The

farm boasts infrastructures that are indeed user-friendly in that there were plenty of

shelters available where visitors could rest, and there were well-tarred walkways that link

each sections of the farm where the vegetable are in various batches, each batch in one

particular stage of development. The tour guide takes us carefully through these stages in

a sequential manner, which was particularly helpful as we could see first-hand the

processes described in the video earlier on, and could relate to the important points put

forward in the presentation. Although over 80% of the raw products of the aeroponics

farm are lettuce, they are grown in an area where they are protected from tampering from

visitors, and in most cases, the access to these areas were either block totally or are given

only viewing from a distance through nets. It was unfortunate, however, that we were

unable to have a closer look at these lettuce-growing areas and the equipments like

growing troughs, mist dispersal systems and the environment monitoring systems

available there. This was largely due to the damage caused by previous groups of visiting

students in the past, and it was pointed out that those areas have to be protected as a

necessary precaution to avoid potential damage to the cabbage plants as well as the

equipments.

In contrast, the open areas that we are given access to, such as the spearmint plot,

provide an opportunity for closer examination of the plants. Visitors could touch and feel

the leaves, but what was even more interesting was that an attempt to grow temperate

plants such as strawberries were carried out, although in a largely experimental phase, we

noted that the results so far has been promising. This was achieved by exposing the root

system of the plants to conditions similar to that of temperate regions, and by fooling the

plant into thinking that it is growing in that area where it thrives, the growth process was

somehow accelerated.

There were also plenty of specimen products available, and a demonstration

growing trough to show students the details of how the nutrient-rich mist were dispersed

at intervals of 30 seconds. Although we did not get to view the lettuces in different stages

of development much more closer than we had hoped for, we thought that the

management are indeed committed into dedicating resources such as these to facilitate

first-hand learning for students on the field trip.

1.2 Usefulness in the teaching of secondary Biology

Aeroponics is a new technology utilizing fine mists of macronutrients (nitrogen,

phosphorus and potassium) to nourish plant root systems. In contrast to normal methods

of agriculture, where the root systems are completely covered in soil, in aeroponics, the

roots systems of the plants are completely exposed to air. This has the advantage of

practically exposing the plant root system to a virtually unlimited supply of oxygen

necessary for growth. This would explain why plants grown using this technique take half

the time to reach maturity compared to those grown in conventional methods. In the

context of land-scarce Singapore, where we have a dense population and rate of food

supply is limited to only the arable lands available in only certain parts of the country,

aeroponics had the potential to bring a certain degree of self-sufficiency in terms of food

supply, cutting down dependence on imported vegetables. Thus, not only will students be

able to tie in the information from the field trip with the knowledge that were learnt in the

topic of Mineral Nutrition in Plants, they will be enriched with knowledge of this new

technology that is both interesting and certainly engaging. Another noteworthy point is

that in the process of addressing the need for a degree of self-sufficiency in our country in

terms of food supplies, the video presentation has in a way highlighted elements of

National Education by promoting the awareness of the need for intensive agriculture in

the context of Singapore’s vegetable supply.

Another point of interest would be the flexibility afforded by the structure of the

farm’s farming techniques. In the resource center, the productivity of every inch of the

farm is optimized, in the sense that growing troughs are mobile and could be moved to

areas where sunlight is more abundant. This is certainly impossible in the context of

conventional farming using soil agriculture. Therefore, the potential for high-level order

thinking skills is possible. For instance, the teacher could ask at certain juncture of the

trip what are the advantages of the troughs being mobile. The teacher could also get

students to identify and highlight the advantages of recycling the mineral solution used in

the nutrient mist, such as lesser wastage of water (conservation), higher productivity and

optimization of nutrients and mineral salts. The teacher could also note to the students

that in the case of the farm, the use of pesticides are minimal as pests from soil do not

come into the picture and that for this reason, the manual labour required to maintain the

farm is substantially lower than that of normal agriculture.

Overall, I would think that the field trip would not only acquaints students with

newer technologies available in agriculture, its limitations, strengths and advantages, but

more to that, it has the potential to instill a certain degree of appreciation of science and

ingenuity as a whole, and how it could help us overcome problems or limitations in the

context of Singapore, by making students marvel at the powers of science.

Appendix A

Picture 1: Exhibition Growing Trough at the entrance of the farm

Picture 2: Close-up view of the lettuce grown on the trough

Picture 3: View of the interior of the growing trough

Picture 4: View of the nutrient mist-dispersal mechanism

Picture 5: View of lettuces in early stage of development

Picture 6: View of germinating seedlings prior to transplantation on growing troughs

Picture 7: View of mature lettuce plants almost ready for harvesting