ISHS Acta Horticulturae 672: IV International Symposium on Horticultural Education, Extension and Training
USING VEGETABLE CROPS AS A TOOL FOR CROP SCIENCE ACTIVE LEARNING |
| Author: | A.A. Monteiro |
| Keywords: | education, knowledge, teaching methods |
| Abstract:
This paper reports the use of vegetable crops as a hands-on tool for active learning crop science in an agriculture university college. During the course on vegetable crop science and technology each pair of students receive a plot of land where they grow a vegetable crop from February to June. The students are free in their options but have to justify the decisions about the methods and techniques they apply. They also compare alternative methods and techniques e.g. amount of N, plant spacing, seed drilling depth, soil mulching, and evaluate the results. The obligatory items to be reported are: (1) the choice of the crop; (2) crop adaptation to local soil and climatic conditions; (3) crop establishment; (4) the use of fertilisers; (5) irrigation timing and amount; (6) integrated pest and disease management; (7) harvest timing; (8) crop yield; (9) produce quality evaluation. Decision-making along the cropping cycle is a fundamental part of the work. The students have an opportunity for linking research with practice and for making a cost-benefit analysis of their decisions. At the end of the semester the students submit a written report and give a ten-minute oral presentation about their crop, which is followed by a commentary by the teachers and an open discussion among all students present. Students value this work and express great satisfaction for having the opportunity for interacting with plants and for applying and integrating their knowledge. They usually show difficulties on transferring the information from the literature to the field, on quantifying inputs, and on interpreting crop reactions. | |
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