Ecology at the School Garden

After several months’waiting, CIS Shenyang has been authorized by the Liaoning province government to open its doors again to our Grade 9 and DP students. This was made possible by the great effort and dedication that our staff and teachers have invested to prepare the school for the strict protocols that the Education Department of the province demanded from all schools. We feel very proud to be one of only two of the five international schools in Shenyang have been authorized to open!

Adapting to the needs of our students, we came to realize that they have lacked opportunities for social development that they need over the past months, while observing the rules of social distancing by working on common projects. As a science teacher and following our unit on Ecology, I thought of teaching the students something that they could do on our big outdoor green areas would be perfect!! Therefore, I decided to ask our students to plant and care for a personal garden. It was lots of fun for them and we prepared some cucumbers, lettuce, basil and tomato plants.

Our students learned that it is not enough to just prepare the soil, cover the seeds and water them, because this will get them killed! With the help of our resident expert on plants, Ms Beryl, who holds a college degree on Horticulture and Farming, we taught the students how to prepare the seed and lay them in shallow plastic plates to make them germinate before they go into the ground!

How to carefully transfer them to the soil filled wells (after all they are babies!).

And how to gently water them, so as not to hurt them.

After learning all of this, one of our students exclaimed: “So that is why my tomato plants died! No wonder they didn’t make it.” This knowledge will give them a greater appreciation for the vegetables we eat in our daily lives and the care and knowledge of the farmers that grow them! They now understand our world a little more, and appreciate that life, even the apparently simple, hides more secrets and rules than they knew. Following the IB spirit that drives our school, this little project led our students into the discovery of facts that traditional classes may have failed to show them. All are very happy to be doing hands on learning again at CISS, and it was fun for me to see them face to face instead of on Zoom!!