Report on Demonstration Gardens in School.

Abstract

The Compound Gardening Project involved establishing and maintaining demonstration gardens with vegetables in the school compound for use in conducting experiments and demonstrations for science lessons. It was carried out at Hillside Nursery and Primary Schools-Naalya, in Kira Municipality of Wakiso District. The participants were Tr. Noah Mukalazi (19/U/20426/EXT) and 11pupils plus 1 gardener. The activities mainly involved what is done in the agricultural production process, such as preparation of the nursery bed, manuring of the soil by addition of fertilizers, scattering of seeds, transplanting, watering, spraying, running and thinning, and harvesting. Additionally, the gardening activities were carried out along with science discussions on plant life at every stage of the project. The output was the established demonstration garden and the harvested Sukuma wiki vegetables. The outcomes of the project included the acquisition of scientific skills in urban farming, especially in compound gardening by the teacher. The teacher also sharpened his pedagogical skills, especially in the use of demonstration gardens in delivering science lessons. The teacher learnt that a great many topics or lessons on plant science for primary school can be taught outdoors using demonstration gardens. It was also learnt that children learn faster when they participate in setting up the teaching and learning aids, as the participants of the project did with the gardens.