The purpose of this article is to present the scope of an educational tool for transverse science learning called Aquaponics. The objectives of this article are: a) Present a model of Experiential Research, b) Thematic contents that can be developed according to the national curriculum in the area of mathematics and CTA, c) Define what is Aquaponics and the different designs that exist at the level world.
Introduction
In the world there is a need to seek that science learning is experiential. Bazán et al. (2001), Aliaga and Pecho (2000), and Cueto et al. (2003) have investigated the relationship between performance and attitude in Mathematics and Sciences for the school system, and found in general that the attitudes were negative and related to low performance. Furthermore, in the first study it has been found that, as the school grades advance, the attitude towards Mathematics and Sciences becomes less favorable. In Peru the academic performance in the area of science is low, this is reflected in the ranking of Pisa where we are located in the penultimate place.Possible causes may be that: the school responds slowly to the characteristics and challenges of new technologies, as it is not in a position to compete with the advancement of science and technology; on the other hand, teachers do not always have the tools to face the knowledge and orientation needs of students.
The provision of technological infrastructure to schools increases, but this only solves part of the problem: it is also required to develop capacities that allow generating knowledge, which requires profound educational changes that renew paradigms, approaches and methods. Cuevas (2007: 72) affirms that teaching practice with curricular media and materials has traditionally been organized around a type of technology: printed material, since the textbook has always reigned at school. At the same time, infrastructure is required according to the themes of the national curriculum and that allow for the formation of a capacity for work and technological innovation that Peru needs. In countries like USA, Japan, Australia,India and Kenya an apprenticeship program has been implemented with an Educational tool that allows cross-sectional learning of the sciences called "Aquaponics"
Definition of Aquaponics
Aquaponics is the combined cultivation or co-cultivation of fish and plants in recirculation or closed-loop systems where water is only lost by 10%, which is the product of plant evaporation. Fish food provides the nutrients required for fish growth. Another definition could say that it is an Integral System since it is a system with which additional crops can be obtained using the by-products of the production process of the primary species. If the secondary cultivation is plants of aquatic or terrestrial origin, this type of integrated system = aquaponic system
Aquaponics Designs
Growbed System: Based on the use of Fish Tank and the use of a bed that uses stones, expanded clay, volcanic rock or perlite as a substrate material for plants. Its use is for amateurs, it is easy to build, but it tends to become saturated with solids in the plant beds and more labor is required to clean it.
Growing Power Model: It was developed in Milwaukee USA based on the use of a bed as a substrate material for plants with the difference that they use worms for the formation of Humus, just as the previous model tends to accumulate solids in the plant bed and more personnel are required for its maintenance.
Raft System or Floating Bed: Developed at the University of the US Virgin Islands, it is an easy model to scale commercially, it clearly differentiates the components of the Aquaponics system and the function of each one of them. You can get more fish and plants.
NFT System or Thin Film System: For this model PVC tubes are used, for example, they can be mounted easily and their complication in use is that they can be plugged with solids.
In Peru I have been proposing the development of an Aquaponics Model or Design in which I combine the Floating bed Design with the NFT system in this way the Student differentiates the different types of substrates on which plants can develop and the amount of food that is required for the growth of vegetables according to the Hydroponics system.
The Aquaponics Experiential Research Model, as a structuring didactic principle
Models become a fundamental tool to guide educational research. Antonio Padilla Arroyo.
In this case, the student: is considered as a subject, who acquires knowledge in contact with reality; where the mediating action is reduced to allowing the students to live and act like small scientists, so that they discover by inductive reasoning the concepts and laws from the observations. The teacher becomes a coordinator of work in the classroom, based on empiricism or naive inductivism; here, teaching science is teaching research skills (observation, hypothesis planning, experimentation)
This Research Model encompasses three essential aspects that maintain an interdependent relationship with each other: On the one hand, student research as a significant learning process (Tonucci, 1976); on the other the conception of the teacher as facilitator of said learningand, at the same time, as a researcher of the events that happen in the classroom (Gimeno, 1983; Cañal and Porlán, 1984); and finally the investigative and evolutionary approach to curriculum development (Stenhouse, 1981). The latter refers to the adaptation of this Aquaponics model for relevance in Education according to the need of each region of the country, prioritizing the natural resources that they have, for example, the adaptation of plant species for medicinal, nutritional or cultural use. The same with aquatic organisms that can adapt to the system depending on the area cultivated.
In Peru, a scenario is presented where students suffer from a high rate of child malnutrition. This learning model called "Aquaponics" can raise the nutritional quality of the students since the continuous harvest of vegetables can serve as food for the students and be able to obtain a generation of well-nourished students with the capacity to solve the problems that today The world faces the lack of water resources, these systems as described in previous lines allow water recycling and only 10% is lost due to evaporation, which allows us to have this resource for years, being able to harvest fish and plants for years.
Here are some basic aspects of the Aquaponics model applied to Primary and Secondary Schools:
a) The Aquaponic Module is adapted to the classroom environment as an essential means in facilitating investigative work.
b) Promote the formulation of problems as a personal stimulus for the investigative action of the students, provoking in them curiosity and desire to investigate.
c) It puts into play the previous information of the students (beliefs, representations, pre-concepts, etc.) about the model under investigation.
d) Contrast this information with each other, encouraging the confrontation of arguments, evidence and examples, and thereby promoting the re-elaboration of the initial knowledge that students have about the model, as well as the formation of ((currents of opinion)) (hypothesis) on how to solve it.
e) Carry out specific activities to apply the new constructs elaborated by the students, to situations and contexts different from those investigated, promoting the maturation and generalization of learning.
f) Accumulate and disseminate research reports, as a way of having a heritage of school knowledge about reality that can be taken as a reference for future research and as a way of transmitting to society the knowledge generated at school.
Experimental Aquaponics Module for transverse science learning.
Mathematics Area.
1. Measure the mass of living organisms (Fish and Plants).
Differentiates a starting weight and throughout the body's development process.
2. Measure the mass of the fish food.
3. Use the calendar in relation to the growth time of Fish and Plants.
Mark a start date for planting and another for harvest, and measurements are made every 15 days to determine the growth size of the organisms.
4. Record Fish and Plant Growth Data in double entry tables.
5. It relates the amount of food in relation to the production of plants in the hydroponic system.
6. Calculate Areas and density of plant cultures according to the amount of fish waste.
7. Relate the Geometric shapes of the Aquaponic Module.
8. Calculate Sedimentation rates for solid waste.
9. Random growth experiments according to different physical, chemical and biological factors.
Growth experiments of plant density according to hours of light and darkness, experiments of growth of fish according to density of fish, interaction between the amount of fish with the production of plants.
10. Data Management and frequency according to the growth of fish and plants.
Science and Environment Area.
1. Identify and value the livestock and agricultural resources in your area and look for cultivation solutions to the water problem.
2. Matter, energy and organization of living systems.
3. Interdependence of the Organisms.
4. Chemical Reactions in Water.
PH regulation through the addition of salts and this affects how fish and plants are grown since a basic pH has to be maintained.
5. Values the human effort for the development of environmentally friendly technologies that are as a tool for social development.
6. Geochemical Cycles.
7. Inquire and Explain that plants make their own food (photosynthesis)
8. Research and discuss the different ways in which plants can grow.
9. Investigate about fish and plant diseases that crops can present and what are the main organisms that affect it (Bacteria, viruses, Nematodes)
10. Environmental management projects, Aquaponics green and sustainable business.
conclusion
The Aquaponics module can be a development tool for science in the Schools of Secondary Primary Education, CETPRO and Technological Institutes.
It serves to teach Productive Education and Entrepreneurship for the development of rural areas.
It can serve as a support for feeding popular canteens and glass of milk programs to combat child malnutrition.
Bibliography
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JIMENEZ, J., 2012 Recirculation Systems in Aquaculture: A Vision and Diverse Challenges for Latin America. Aquaculture Industry Magazine. Mexico. Vol. 8 N ° 2 pp. 6-10
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