LOOKING FOR NEW WAYS TO GROW: A HYDROPONIC INDOOR GARDEN AT SCHOOL TO IMPROVE STEM EDUCATION AND 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

This work describes a pilot research project on the use of an hydroponic indoor garden in pre- and primary school. With a laboratory approach, this technology is used to promote science as an active process in class and to improve 21° century skills like critical thinking, communication and collaboration or entrepreneurship. The pilot project involved a Kindergarden (95 students, age 3-5) and a Primary School (II, IV, V grade , 150 students).

The students are involved, in working groups of peers, to cooperate with others an laboratory activity to gathering information from experimental setup and use this information to develop a theory deducted from the observed events.

The goal of this research is to establish a classroom activity that fits the educational needs of the different school grades that sustains STEM education and improves the four C’s of 21st century learning framework.

The article illustrates the outcomes of the didactic activities including the work among peers and the different approaches used for the modelling process. It also reports the results of the questionnaires answered from the teachers and pupils and the focus group at the end of the pilot project.

This study has some limitations, first the number of schools that took part in the pilot project and secondly the lake of standardized valuation tools to investigate the outcomes for skills and competences for the proposed educational activity.

The findings will be used as an indication to plan a more detailed investigation since the long-term goal of the research is to create sustainable and replicable didactic framework on a national and international scale.