Using technology to grow plants

Growing plants is an activity that all children love. It is also has huge educational benefit, in terms of Science, Maths Computing and the whole school community. We explore how through growing plants, building and programming devices, children can learn about ways that technology can benefit agriculture and save water and energy.

Gardening in schools

I was inspired to grow plants in school and to combine agriculture with technology by a project that I saw at a school in New York. Children planted vegetables and monitored conditions using sensors. The data was visible on the school website and the fruit and vegetables were sold by the school to raise money. Unfortunately, I now cannot find the link to the project!

I am amazed by the effect that growing plants has on children. They nurture plants and in return, I believe the children benefit too. Constructing a small greenhouse is great, since it protects plants in winter, but placing plants on a windowsill is almost as good. Any kind of gardening in school requires careful time consideration. Children will have to dress appropriately, carry equipment and listen to briefing, prior to doing any gardening themselves (not to mention tidying up). Teachers gardening outside with children will benefit from planning the garden carefully before letting the children plant any seeds.

Once plants are grown (or growing) the opportunities for collecting data from them are plentiful. Children can set up time lapse cameras to view growth over time - this can be achieved using iPads. Children can also zoom in with an iPad camera and tap the screen to take detailed close-up photos.

Children can donate any grown fruit or vegetables to the school kitchen, or sell produce at fayres, depending on the quantity provided.

Arduino systems

Arduino is the system I have used most with children growing plants in schools. This is due to the range of components available for Arduino, including water pumps and soil moisture sensors.

Arduino systems are definitely more suitable for older children who possess dexterity, attention to detail and perseverance. Arduinos are programmed using C+ programming language, which has some difficult syntax, more so than even Python. Fortunately, there are ways around this that allow primary-aged children to experience Arduino systems.

Tinkercad features a 'circuits' environment, which allows children to build virtual Arduino systems on the screen. There is even a range of tutorials that can teach children to make simple circuits. Children can code the Arduinos using block-based coding. If they want to send their code to a real Arduino, they can select 'blocks and text' to turn their block-based coding into C+ and then copy this into the Arduino IDE (available to download from the Arduino website). They then plug their Arduino into the computer, select the correct port and press the arrow run their code.

With primary-aged children, I would be inclined to make this process even simpler. This can be done by the teacher providing the children with code, via Google Classroom or a shared doc. Children can then discuss this code and modify it to fit their needs and the needs of the system they have built.

In terms of building their systems, children will need to know a few things.

1) The first thing they should do is connect the 'GND' socket to the negative row (Called the negative bus) and the 5V socket to the positive row (positive bus). This means that any components plugged into those get a negative and positive charge.

2) Children will need Arduino screen with L2C adaptors. This lessens the number of pins required to 4. One of the pins is negative (plug into the negative bus), one positive (plug into the positive bus). The other two are data pins, connections shown below.

3) The soil moisture sensor has a negative pin, a positive pin and a data pin. Unfortunately, the code does not go from 0 (no moisture) to 100 (full moisture). They will see that in the text-based program, an if/else structure is used to state what should happen if the soil is moist or not. The numbers in this structure might need to be altered.

The red wires connect to the positive bus, powered from the '5V' terminal on the Ardnuio. The black wires connect to the negative bus, powered from the 'GND' socket on the Arduino.

This code will make the screen display a value from the sensor, although the numbers must be configured.

Crumble systems

This year, to make building plan monitoring systems more accessible to children, I will also be giving children access to Crumble systems (by Redfern Electronics). These systems are programmed directly using block-based coding. They do not have the same range of components as Arduino systems, but do have temperature sensors and light sensors which can give an indication of the conditions the plan it growing in. When used with the new Data Hives, real time graphs can be generated and viewed. Children will be able to spend time building the devices and accompanying display materials, with less time needed for the fine details of programming.

Minecraft Education

I have used Minecraft a lot in education but until recently, not fully explored the Minecraft Education lessons. One of the lessons, found in the 'Computer Science --> AI' section is about sustainable farming and the role that AI can play in monitoring and helping grow plants. Children have to follow the instructions carefully, but the scenario can be a memorable and instructional demonstration of how AI, sensors and satellites are used in agriculture.

Concluding thoughts

Growing plants is an activity that children love, and that benefits their understanding and appreciation of the world. Technology can be used to augment this process, in terms of effectiveness, measuring and learning. Teachers not confident with a whole class building physical systems could build one system themselves and share it with the children in the class. Children will quickly share their ideas for improvements and modifications!