Guided Inquiry: School Garden

This is a guided inquiry that I'm currently planning for some of my students who require some extra scaffolding and more support with inquiry-based learning. It would depend on the needs of the cohort and individual students as to how I provided that extra guidance. I would also provide students who require extension with an open-ended inquiry or a deeper or more complex question. For example, if the curriculum required that we covered the topic of food security, I might ask "how can we create a sustainable, resilient and healthy food supply system?" or allow them them to come up with a question themselves that addresses the topic.

First I would introduce the learning intentions and then tune in to what students already know about the topic of food security/provide some background information that will help inform their project choices.

Sometimes individual students need a little extra prompting to help them start imagining the possibilities. If this was the case, I may offer some possible suggestions to get them started.

Background information:

Most of my students have already worked on some projects connected to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals:

Future Challenge – Food Security

Food is fundamental to our health and wellbeing. By 2050 the world’s population is expected to reach over 9 billion people; to meet this demand food production must increase by 60%. Over 800 million people currently experience food insecurity worldwide, and it is thought that approximately 5% of the Australian population is affected. Innovation is required to meet the challenge of ensuring food security in both Australia and the rest of the world.

Some groups are at a higher risk than others of food insecurity, such as Indigenous Australians, the unemployed, single parent households, low income earners, and young people. With future predicted changes in climate, the scale and picture of food production in Australia is likely to change.

In Australia, there is typically less than a month of non-perishable food in the supply chain at any given time, and less than a week for perishable food. Holding low reserve supplies makes food security in Australia vulnerable to extreme weather events.

The problem can occur at any level from how we access food, to the availability of the products, or to the way we use and/or waste the food.

*Information taken from CSIRO Research; STEM X Academy