Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience: During the establishment of the project (2018-2019),the PD and Project Coordinator met with personnel from Puerto Rico Department of Education (DE)to explain project objectives and the Strategic Plan. Meetings were also held with school teachers. A total of eleven schools (one from Adjuntas, one from Jayuya and 9 from Utuado municipalities) were selected to participate in the project. Six students from the University of Puerto Rico at Utuado (UPRU) were selected to participate in a four-week summer training program. Students were chosen based on an evaluation of their online applications and an interview. The training program included interactive activities, guest lectures and webinars.The training also included sessions on how to use the School Garden Network web platform, webminar services, Wi-Fi enabled microscopes, tablets, and other DET techniques. During this period, faculty from University of Puerto Rico-Utuado and teachers from the DE,participated in a Distance Education Techniques (DET) training about video development and editing. During the 2019-2020 year period a total of eleven schools (one from Adjuntas, one from Jayuya and 9 from Utuado municipalities) continued to participate in the project. Fourteen teachers colaborated with UPRU undergraduate students to offer eduactional modules in the classroom to the kids and youth from the different participating schools. These students also practiced sustainable agricultural skills at their school gardens. A total of nineteen undergraduates students from different Agricultural Technology academic programs, participated in the project from September 2019 to August 2020, including12 students from the INTD 3805 course (Community Service).Eleven faculty members from different academic programs at UPRU,ten teachers from the DE and onestaff memberparticipated in the professional development workshops about distance learning offered in this reporting period. A Distance Education workshop:"Tools for promoting interactive online lessons"was offered at the UPRU campus and 14 educators participated actively. During the 2020-2021 year period the situation at the Department of Education changed considerably due to the COVID 19 Pandemic. The educational system changed to online classes and most of the teachers taught from home and students received virtual classes. Atotal of seven schools (one from Jayuya and 6 from Utuado municipalities) continued to participate in the project with distance education of our modules and four schools decided not to continue because the majority of the students did not have reliable internet service at their homes. Seven teachers collaborated with UPRU undergraduate students to offer distance education modules to the kids and youth from the different participating schools. That year the students could not practice sustainable agricultural skills at their school gardens due to the pandemic, but most of the teachers motivated their students to develop gardens at home. A total of twelve undergraduates students from different Agricultural Technology academic programs, participated in the project from September 2020 to August 2021. Additionally, an elementary school from Lares, Puerto Rico, which was not part of this project, got motivated with online education and contacted one of our undergraduate students to start using our modules. During the 2021-2022 year period a total of seven schools continued to participate in the project and forthe Spring Semester 2022, the Department of Education initiated in-person classes and the students re-took their participation in the school gardens. Seven UPRU undergraduates students went back to the schools and took care of the school gardens previously developed. In addittion, 12 undergraduate students, as participants of the coursesAgroecology and Community Service,dedicated someweekly hours at the beginingof the Fall Semester (August 2022). Even though the no cost extension periodended during this academic semester (August-December 2022), we still have some students colaborating with the teachers and schools in the maintenance of the school gardens. Also, our project reached 4different schools in other municipalities: Elementary School Rafael Hernandez Marín in Vega Alta, Elementary Christian Academy in Manatí, Alondra Learning School in Cidra and José Vizcarrondo High School in Angeles, Utuado.UPRU undergraduates studentsenrolled in the Community Service course are helping with this task. Those students used our educational modules to develop new school gardens, and we supported them with plant materials, tools, soil, among other practical supplements. During this year period, the UPRU re-organized the Festival Tierra Adentro (this event was cancelled for two consecutive years, following COVID 19 restrictions)and our undergraduate students celebrated several activities for kids in our model school garden located in the university campus. More than 4,000 visitors were informed about our project during this agricultural fair. A conference about our project was offeredduring the 12th Agroecology Symposium with the participation oflocal farmers, students from the Agricultural Technology Department, members of our external community, and personnel from Agricultural Department Agency, among others. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? A summer training was offered in June of 2019 and six students were trained on Distance Education Technologies (DET). Faculty and teachers also participated in a DET training that May, where they learned about video development and editing. The first School Garden Network Meeting was held in May of 2019 and teachers from various parts of the island participated through an online meeting platform. Four workshops for UPRU faculty and teachers: 1) Distance Education Workshop: Use of educational applications for virtual environments; 2) Distance Education Workshop: Tools for Promoting Interactive Online Lessons; 3) Scientific Research in the Classroom (Part 1); and4) Scientific Resarch in the Classroom (Part 2). Webinar: Puerto Rico School Garden Network. In: Webinar Iberoamericano: retos, enfoques y éxitos de los huertos escolares. The project director presented the challenges, approaches and successes of the Puerto Rico School Garden Network project. Also, in this event our teachers had the opportunity to exchange experiences with members of the RIHE (International Network of Educational Gardens) and teachers from Spain, Uruguay, and Mexico. Teachers were invited to participate in a series of webinars organized by the RIHE, since our Puerto Rico School Garden Network (PRSGN) is a member of this group. Some examples are:1. Los huertos educativos entre pandemias, cambio climático y crisis política: forjando esperanzas y comunidades resilientes; and 2. Haciendo ciencias en el huerto educativo The project director offered four online workshops for teachers as part of the Puerto Rico Agriculture in the Classroom Workshops. They described how to navigate the redconucos.org webpage and the use of educational modules. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Poster Presentation:"Conucos: A school garden network for sustainable agriculture education"presented at the "SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION SAEA; Agricultural Crossroads: Social and Ecological Convergence in the Heartland", Ohio, USA. Webminar:Puerto Rico School Garden Network. In: Webinar Iberoamericano: retos, enfoques y éxitos de los huertos escolares. This webinar was coordinated by the School Garden Support Organization (SGSO) and the International Network of Educational Gardens (RIHE). The project director presented the challenges, approaches and successes of the Puerto Rico School Garden Network project. Also, in this event our teachers had the opportunity to exchange experiences with members of the RIHE and teachers from Spain, Uruguay, and Mexico. This was a great opportunity to share our project with other countries. Webinar:Huertos Escolares en tiempos de COVID 19. The project director offered a webinar about the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic in the school garden development. In this virtual activity, both the undergraduate students and teachers participated. At the end of the webinar the participants had time to share their experiences. The webinar was presented in the project Facebook page and had more than 400 views. Also it was presented in the YouTube Agricultural Technology Department channel (Utuado Agrícola uprutuado). Oral presentation: Conucos: the Puerto Rico School Garden Network. The conference was part of the 12th Agroecology Symposiumorganized in UPRU. The audience was mainly organic and agoecological farmers. Undergraduate students from UPRU also participated and told some personal experiences with children in the schools and how they developed the school gardens. Reports are submitted periodically to the Department of Agricultural Technology Department and the Academic Deanship of UPR Utuado to disseminate project outcomes. Some of our educational modules are disseminated through the Puerto Rico Agriculture in the Classroom Facebook page. The project director presented the challenges and successes of the Puerto Rico School Garden Network project at the NIFA ANNH and Insular areas PD Meeting. Relevant activities organized by the PRSGN are published in a WhatsApp group created for all the teachers from participating schools and through the Facebook page. Training information, school pictures and modules have been made available through the project's webpage and Facebook page. This page is constantly updated and has reached almost a thousand followers. Our Model School Garden at UPRU campus, received students from many Elementary, Middle and High School during the academic year due to different activities like UPR Open House, Tierra Adentro Agricultural Fair, and FFA meetings at the campus. From 2018 to 2022, our School Garden Network project was disseminated to more than 5,000 people. A promotional video about this project was developed and posted in different social media andUPRU's Agricultural Technology Department YouTube channel. In the Facebook page members of the network interact by posting relevant material related to school gardens and commenting on those posts. The Red Conucos Facebook page has 1.2K likes and 1.3K followers on Facebook at the time of this report. Through the webpage of the project as well as through the social media presence, participants of the network have been able to connect and to exchange STEAM knowledge related to school gardens. Though this project did not contemplate a scenario such as the one we recently had experienced, COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing measures, it has been at the forefront of expanding collaborations using distance-learning technology. The use of social media particularly, is an example of using tools many people are familiar with, and that promote interaction in which collaborators can post material and interact in numerous ways. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The main goal of this university-schools partnership is to advance agriculture education in all educational levels, from preschool to DAT UPRU's bachelor degree in Sustainable Agriculture. The follow activities supported the major goals of the project. Objective 1: Several activities were developed to achieve this objective during this project. Teachers were invited and participated in a faculty training for video creation and editing. A summer training was offered in June of 2019 to teach undergraduate students about Distance Education Technologies (DET). UPRU undergraduates who participated of the summer training were given pre-tests and post-tests with questions pertaining to knowledge of different subjects areas within distance learning, video making and school gardens. Of the 6 participants, 5 demonstrated an increase in post-test scores and only 1 demonstrated a decrease from their pre-test to their post-test scores. The increased scores by most of the participants are indicative of distance learning and school garden knowledge of UPRU undergraduates, thus demonstrating the project is meeting objective 1 and impact 1 successfully for the UPRU undergraduates. Four Distance Education Workshops were offered for faculty members and school teachers: Use of educational applications for virtual environments-A total of 10 teachers, 11 faculty members and 1 staff member participated in the November 2, 2019, workshop about distance learning. The average for the pre-test scores was 81% (40% minimum and 100% maximum), and the average of the post-tests scores was 87% (60% minimum and 100% maximum). Of the 21 participants who answered the post-test, 18 demonstrated an increase in post-test scores. The increased scores by most of the participants are indicative of increased knowledge about distance education technology of UPRU faculty and of teachers. This demonstrates that this workshop met the project objective 1 and the impact 1 successfully for UPRU faculty and for school teachers involved in the project. Tools for promoting interactive online lessons- Fourteen educators participated in this workshop. Pre and post tests were administered. Eleven participants demonstrated increased knowledge at the end of the workshop. Participants were asked about what other workshops they were interested in, regarding distance education technologies. This was an open-ended question and there were a variety of responses. The responses were categorized as follow: accessibility (making sure people with different accessibility challenges are included), finding educations resources online, blog creations, teaching laboratories with distance education technology, making education videos, use of other applications, and the most common request was for workshops on creating assessment tools, such as quizzes and exams. Scientific Research in the Classroom Workshop (Part 1): Teachers were exposed to the research proposal development components. This hands-on workshop showed teachers how they can integrate the research component in their classrooms. They learned concepts like developing a research question and a hypothesis, doing literature reviews and organizing ideas and methodology. Scientific Research in the Classroom Workshop (Part 2): Teachers were presented with different tools for obtaining experimental data and for data analysis. At the end of the workshops teachers had a preliminary research proposal and a clearer understanding on how to incorporate research into their teaching environment. Objective 2: During the summer training, 30 modules were developed. These modules covered 10 topics and were developed for three different grade levels (elementary, middle and high school levels). Some of the topics included: soil preparation, seeds, soil nutrition, natural resources, health, and arts in agriculture. Starting during the Fall Semester of 2019, UPRU undergraduate students used the interactive modules to help teachers in their classrooms to apply school garden skills. A total of 30 interactive teaching modules related to school gardens were published in the webpage: www.redconucos.org. Each module appears as an individual icon in the module section of the webpage. Once you click on the module the specific module page includes a brief explanation of the module in Spanish and in English. A link in the introduction page for each module opens to a separate page that includes the form that describes the module in detail including the activities, objectives, and links to additional webpages. The module topics range from compost, school garden and recycling, to African and indigenous heritage through gardening practices. These modules have been used for teachers from other schools in different municipalities of Puerto Rico. Several students, through the Community Service course, have had the interest in establishing school gardens as part of their service. Recently, the University of Puerto Rico at Utuado decided to be the host of our webpage due to the end of the project and the end of the funding by USDA NIFA. Now this will be the way to access the information. The availability of the interactive modules, tailored for school grades, on the project webpage are evidence that objective 2 of the project has been met successfully. Objective 3: Students started visiting schools in August andused the modules to teach about DET at their respective schools. Fourteen undergraduate students worked with participating school's teachers and students. Also, five students from the Community Service (INTD3805) course helped schools with the school garden maintenance. Some students helped schools in other municipalities, not included in the project, expanding the reach of the network. In November 2019, the project provided several tools for school garden management. All the participating schools received more than 10 different resource materials and garden tools. Twelve undergraduate students worked with participating schools' teachers and students. During the 2019-2020 reporting period, we had the major impact of the COVID 19 pandemic and teachers reported that the virtual modules were very useful. Objective 4: A webpage (www.redconucos.org) was created for the project. A Facebook page (Conucos: Red Educativa de Huertos Escolares y Comunitarios de Puerto Rico) was also developed. Both pages were updated and maintained continually during the project existence. All professional development activities and project accomplishment were disseminated through these pages. Objective 5: The first School Garden Network Meeting was held in May of 2019. Students interacted with teachers during the summer course and participated in a webinar offered by a member of the International School Garden Network. The project director offered a webinar about the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic in the school garden development. In this virtual activity, there was participation of the undergraduate students and teachers. At the end of the webinar the participants had time to share their experiences. Even though since January 2020, Puerto Rico has experienced earthquakes and then the pandemic, students and teachers have been working together for the benefit of children. Thanks to our online modules, we were able to help teachers through this difficult situation. The project director offered four workshops for teachers during the Puerto Rico Agriculture in the Classroom Workshop about how to navigate the redconucos.org webpage and the use of educational modules. Around 100 teachers from Puerto Rico's seven school districts participated in this virtual activity. Two virtual encounters were offered among participating schools. These were facilitated by UPRU undergraduate students. The teachers had the opportunity to share their experiences and the kids spoke about their favorite activities and how much they learned in the online classes.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
D�vila-Negr�n, Marisol. 2022. "Conucos: A school garden network for sustainable agriculture education" presented at the SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION SAEA; Agricultural Crossroads: Social and Ecological Convergence in the Heartland , Ohio, USA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
"Puerto Rico School Garden Network: Using Distance Education Technologies to Advance K-16 Agriculture Education in Central Puerto Rico presented at the NIFA-ANNH and Insular Areas virtual PD Meeting
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
D�vila-Negr�n, Marisol. 2020. Puerto Rico School Garden Network. In: Webinar Iberoamericano: retos, enfoques y �xitos de los huertos escolares.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
D�vila-Negr�n, Marisol. 2020. Huertos escolares en tiempos de COVID (Webinar)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
D�vila-Negr�n, Marisol.2022. "Puerto Rico School Garden Network: Using Distance Education Technologies to Advance K-16 Agriculture Education in Central Puerto Rico presented at the 12th Agroecology Symposium at the University of Puerto Rico en Utuado.
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience: A total of eleven schools (one from Adjuntas, one from Jayuya and 9 from Utuado municipalities) continued to participatein the project. Fourteen teachers colaborated with UPRU (University of Puerto Rico at Utuado) undergraduate studentsto offereduactional modules in the classroom to the kids and youth from the different participating schools. These students alsopracticedsustainable agricultural skills at theirschool gardens. A total of nineteen undergraduates students from different agricultural technology academic programs, participated in the project from september 2019 to august 2020. Eleven faculty members from different academic programs at UPRU, participated in the professional development workshops offered in this reportingperiod. Changes/Problems:The project experienced unexpected challenges during this reporting period. InJanuary 2020, our people wereaffected by a 6.5 Ritcher scaleearthquakeand subsecuent aftershocks. This caused partial schoolcloser until February. When schools were startingto open, theCOVID 19 pandemic caused a lockdown. Schools are still closed, however, the teachers continue teaching online. Some of the students are having problems with the internet access, adding to the challenges. In September 2020 a one year no cost extension was approved by NIFA in order to complete project objectives. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?I-Two workshops for UPRU faculty and teachers: 1) Distance Education Workshop: Use of educational applications for virtual environments 2)Distance Education Workshop: Tools for promoting interactive online lessons II-Webinar: Puerto Rico School Garden Network. In: Webinar Iberoamericano: retos, enfoques y éxitos de los huertos escolares.The project director presented the challenges, approaches and successes of the Puerto Rico School Garden Network project.Also, in this event our teachers had the opportunity to exchange experiences with members of the RIHE (International Network of Educational Gardens) and teachers from España, Uruguay, and Mexico. III-Teachers were invited to participate in a series of webinars organized by the RIHEsince our Puerto Rico School Garden Network PRSGN) is a memberof this group. Some examples are: 1. Los huertos educativos entre pandemias, cambio climático y crisis política: forjando esperanzas y comunidades resilientes 2. Haciendo Ciencias en el huerto educativo How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Webminar:Puerto Rico School Garden Network. In: Webinar Iberoamericano: retos, enfoques y éxitos de los huertos escolares. This webinar was coordinated by the School Garden Support Organization (SGSO) and theInternational Network of Educational Gardens (RIHE). The project director presented the challenges, approaches and successes of the Puerto Rico School Garden Network project.Also, in this event our teachers had the opportunity to exchange experiences with members of the RIHEand teachers from España, Uruguay, and Mexico. This was a great opportunity to share our project with other countries. Webinar: Huertos Escolares en tiempos de COVID 19.The project director offered a webinar about the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic in the school garden development. In this virtual activity participatedthe undergraduate students and teachers. At the end of the webinarthe participants had time to share their experiences.The webinar was presented in the project Facebook page and had more than 400 views. Also it was presentedin the you tube Agricultural Technology Department channel Utuado Agrícola uprutuado. Relevant activities organized by the PRSGN are published in a WhatsApp group created for all the teachers from participating schools and the Facebook page. Reports are submittedperiodically to the Department of Agricultural Technology Department and the Academic Deanship of UPR Utuado to disseminate project outcomes. Some of our educational modules are disseminated throughthe Puerto Rico Agriculture in the Classroom Facebook page. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Most of the project objectives have beenachieved but due to the earthquakes and the COVID 19 pandemic, there are still some activities to complete. Due to COVID-19 lockdown measures implemented by the government in PR (March 15, 2020), UPRU undergraduates were not able to continue work in person in the schools, and the schools closed mid-March. Schools remainclosed in Puerto Rico. Next year we expect to offer two more workshops for educators. We are still developing strategies to keep teachersand students motivated, promote contact among participating schools and develop the educational video for the project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1) Increase distance education technology knowledge among DAT-UPRU (Department of Agricultural Technology-University of Puerto Rico)undergraduate students and faculty, and schools of Central Puerto Rico. Two Distance Education Workshops were offered: 1)Use of educational applications for virtual environments-A total of 10 teachers, 11 faculty members and 1 staff member participated in the November 2, 2019 workshop about distance learning.The average for the pre-test scores was 81% (40% minimum and 100% maximum), and the average of the post-tests scores was 87% (60% minimum and 100% maximum).. Of the 21 participants who answered the post-test, 18 demonstrated an increase in post-test scores. The increased scores by the majority of the participants are indicative of increased knowledge about distance education technology of UPRU faculty and of teachers. This demonstrates that this workshop met the project objective 1 and the impact 1 successfully for UPRU faculty and for school teachers involved in the project. 2)Distance Education Workshop: Tools for promoting interactive online lessons- Fourteen educators participated in this workshop. Pre and post tests were administered. Data from these tests is being analyzed and results will be available for the next reporting period. Participants were asked what other workshops they were interested in regarding distance education technologies. This was an open-ended question and there were a variety of responses. I categorized them as follow: accessibility (making sure people with different accessibility challenges are included), finding educations resources online, blog creations, teaching laboratories with distance education technology, making education videos, use of other applications, and the most common request was for workshops on creating assessment tools, such as quizzes and exams. 2) Create educational modules on the use of distance education technologies for agricultural education in schools and DAT-UPRU Undergraduate students have beenusing the project's interactive modules to help teachers in their classrooms to apply school garden skills. Thewebpage: www.redconucos.org, contains a total of 42 teaching modules related to school gardens. Each module appears as an individual icon in the module section of the webpage. Once you click on the module the specific module page includes a brief explanation of the module in Spanish and in English. A link in the introduction page for each module opens to a separate page that includes the form that describes the module in details including the activities, objectives, and links to additional webpages. The module topics range from compost, school garden and recycling, to African and indigenous heritage through gardening practices. 3) Engage DAT-UPRU undergraduate students in the teaching of DET (Distance Educational Technology) to teachers and students from local schools Fourteen undergraduate students worked with participating schools teachers and students. Also, five students from theCommunity Service (INTD3805) course helped schools with the school garden maintenance. One of these students helped a school in other municipality not included in the project, expanding the reach of the network. In november 2019, the project provided severaltools for school garden management. All the participating schools received more than 10 differents materials and garden tools. 4) Develop a web-based school garden network for Puerto Rico This objective was accomplished during the previous reporting period. During this period we have being updating and maintaining both, the web page (redconucos.org) and the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/redconucospr).All professional development activities and project accomplishment, are disseminated through these pages. 5) Promote the interaction of students and teachers within the network and with other regional school garden networks The project director offered a webinar about the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic in the school garden development. In this virtual activity participatedthe undergraduate students and teachers. At the end of the webinarthe participants had time to share their experiences. Even though since January 2020, Puerto Rico has experienced earthquakes and then the pandemic, students and teachers have been working together for the benefit of children. Thanks to ouronline modules, we were able to help teachers through this difficult situation.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
D�vila-Negr�n, Marisol. 2020. Puerto Rico School Garden Network. In: Webinar Iberoamericano: retos, enfoques y �xitos de los huertos escolares.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
D�vila-Negr�n, Marisol. 2020. Huertos escolares en tiempos de COVID (Webinar)
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