Field Guide of Discovery-based Exercises for - Aseanipm ...

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Field Guide of Discovery-based Exercises for Organic Vegetable Production
2. Each group marks a 1-m 2 quadrant of soil surface with the use of pegs and nylon twine to
secure corners of quadrant and perform activities below:
5 Pull out and ‘de-soil’ (e.g., ipagpag or shake to retain soil in roots) weeds inside quadrant.
5 Collect soil litters and organisms (e.g., rove beetles, ants, millipede, earthworms, etc.)
found in soil surface and place separately in plastic bags.
5 Scrape soil within two inches depth of quadrant and place in separate plastic bag.
5 Observe crop development, root depth, presence of soil organisms, etc.
5 Observe possible indication of management practices, nutrients, fertility level, organic
matter content, erosion hazards, etc.
5 List down all pertinent observations.
3. Go back to processing area. Brainstorm in small groups to design a suitable matrix to record
observations and do the following activities:
5 Facilitators motivate discussion by asking: ‘Is soil a living or a dead thing?’
5 Participants contribute to make a list of characteristics that uniquely define living organisms.
5 Brainstorm on what characteristics of soils suggest that they are ‘alive’.
4. Present output of small groups to big group. Conduct participatory discussion to allow
sharing of experiences among participants. Relate some basic characteristics of living soils to
abundance of soil organisms, soil organic matter content, and soil water holding capacity, soil
nutrient availability, and crop productivity.
5. Synthesize and summarize output of small groups into one big group output. Draw up
conclusions and recommendation from this exercise.
some suggested questions for processing discussion
❏ What are some basic characteristics that define living organisms, in contrast to non-living
things? While a list may be long, facilitator must emphasize and include, if not list, the
following: (a) feeding, (b) growth, (c) breathing [respiration], (d) reproduction, (e) elimination
of wastes, and (f) death.
❏ Which of these characteristics can be said to be true of soils? While soil itself is a composite
of both living and non-living things, it nevertheless shares several characteristics of a living
entity. Principally, a soil: (a) breathes, (b) needs to be fed, (c) creates waste products, and (d) in
many respects, can ‘die’.
❏ Do you know of any example in which soils have been damaged and degraded to the point of
being ‘dead’?