Living soil: Shanghai French School goes green!

Living soil: Shanghai French School goes green!

In March, two classes of Grade 4 and Grade 6 started working on a collaborative gardening project on Yangpu campus. This initiative not only follows the science program but also highlights classes exchange, a concept promoted by the Agency for French Teaching Abroad (AEFE). Let’s dig deeper…

After seeding on one of the school terraces to grow a vegetable garden, two problematics emerged for our 4th Graders: What is the soil made of? Is it living?

From their first session on and thanks to the knowledge of our 6th Graders, students from Grade 4 observed the different components of the soil with a binocular magnifier and were able to identify little animals: the soil is indeed a living environment.

New scientific terms, observational drawings, these aspiring biologists also learnt about the concept of compost. Proud of their discovery, the students collected some woodlice and worms to place them in their terrarium and make their future composter.

Gradually and thanks to the lessons given in class by their teachers, the students discovered that when plants grew, they would use the soil and would impoverish it from nutritional elements. Using natural fertilisers was thus necessary. But how to create your own fertiliser?

Once again students worked in groups on the conception of an efficient composter, and all the prototypes were presented to the class by each group.

This educational adventure finished on an organic note: it is possible to garden naturally without producing waste!