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Agricultural science elective students planting Mata Raton in the first coffee plantation at the Colegio Bolivar garden. Pictured (left to right) are Juan Jose Gomez, Javier “Tuti” Covarrubius, Felipe Olano, Pablo Florez, Mariana Zornoso (nr), Alejandra Guasto (background), Nicolas Uribe and Tomas Rosales.
The Bolivar Garden is now three years old. There have been many developments, many students, lots of learning and strong relationships built between all the people that have been involved with the garden since its inception.
The Bolivar Garden and the Agricultural science elective were set up to provide students with a vocational learning environment with a hands-on elective class. This class by its nature is vocational, it encourages learning through experience, giving students an opportunity to be outside the “normal” classroom environment and enriching their education through practical learning skills.
Pablo Florez and Javier Covarrubius planting maize.
Nicolas Uribe and Tomas Rosales working on the construction of the new semillero
Three years ago, Dr Nagy, our school director and Mr Shannon, the high school principal, gave their support to the Bolivar Garden and agricultural science elective. A syllabus was written, and basic infrastructure was provided in terms of a new shed, water tanks and tubing and an two outside benches.
Since that time we have had over forty students participate in the class, we have started the Bolivar Garden Weekends,
Bolivar Garden weekends bring in the community to work on the garden.
which invites members of the community to come and work in the gardens once a month, and we have participated in enriching visits to agricultural entities such as Corpoica (now Agrosavia) and Agricola Himalaya.
Pablo Florez learning about tea at the Agricola Himalaya tea plantations in Chicoral, La Cumbre, Valle del Cauca.
Agriculture science as an elective course for 11th and 12th grade students is at one level highly academic, developing such skills as researching literature, being selective in the use of primary sources for references, the use of reference managers and the production of high quality output in the form of a structured monograph, yet at the same time providing a vocational hands-on, project based learning environment, that encourages communication, group work, and the building of grit and resilience that our students need: we also have a lot of fun, which reinforces the special relationships and bonds that we have with students at Colegio Bolivar.
A selection of some of the monographs that have been written for the Agriculture Science class. These can be accessed by following links above to Monograph Project Species in the main Blog page.
The beauty of this course is that it uses the knowledge and skills that students have from all their other courses, including, mathematics, science, English, social studies, and allows students to learn valuable analytical research skills. In addition to all the practical knowledge they are gaining from working on the garden.
The garden project has a few general broad aims:
To show to our students the value of land, how to make use of it, how to improve and protect it and how to reuse, reduce and recycle.
Use this class as an example of how to integrate a host of subjects through project-based learning, challenging our students to become autonomous, solving problems for themselves and working together as a team.
Create functioning and sustainable organic garden based on the premise of organic gardening and sustainability, through the application of agroforestry practices.
Subsidize the workers canteen at the school, using the organic matter that is produced at the school from both cafeterias.
Promote interaction between the different sections of the school (pre-primary, primary, middle school and high school) and community members.
Protect the resource we have and increase the biodiversity present.
Finally, I wish to re-affirm my vision of the school garden. It is one that includes all members of the community, one that sees the garden as a meeting point for people, one that uses the garden as a teaching tool for all grades, where sustainable practices are used to learn and produce healthy food for our community, and one where the garden is enjoyed by all.
Wojciech Simon Waliszewski
Ph.D., M.A.Ed., M.Sc. Env. For., P.G.C.E., B.Sc. (Hons).
Agriculture elective teacher.