Education materials - agriculture/soil science for high schoolers in South Sudan

#1

Hi all,
I’m headed to South Sudan in a few weeks to help a friend who is running a school out near Aweil. I’m a biology/science teacher and have been asked to run a few science classes for the high school group. I’m interested in having the classes focus on agriculture and soil science and the basic biological concepts that connect.

I’m wondering if anyone out the ECHOverse might have any sort of resources on these topics (or vaguely connected) that are geared more towards the high school level?

I could make my own but thought I’d ask first. Thanks!

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#2

There is a multi part set of Ag Ed documents from Kumi University starting with:

https://www.studocu.com/row/document/kumi-university/agriculture-notes/s1-introduction-to-agriculture-o-level-notes-1/70415421

An interesting background document on the sector:

The most important thing I’ve earned in 10 years of studying tropical agriculture ( I used to go on mission trips to Haiti) is that soil fertility is directly related to soil organic matter. See:

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#3

Hi Megan!

Thanks for reaching out about your upcoming trip. ECHO Asia has a nice video series workshop on introduction to soil science. While some of the content is Asia- specific and some is likely too technical, there is a lot of good foundational information in there: ECHO Asia Intro to Soil Science | ECHOcommunity.org

Additionally, @Mike_Martin may have recommendations has he has been writing a book about sustainable agriculture. I got a sneek peak of one of the chapters on soil connections and it’s fantastic. He also recently spend time in South Sudan :slight_smile:

Stacy

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#4

Excellent suggestions to dig into. Here is a collection on ECHOcommunity developed by a teacher for school visits. I don’t know if it will be of any help, but perhaps there is something to inspire you.

Some of the material on participatory instruction might also be useful to check out.

Are there any other teachers out there with lesson plans to share?
What do you find useful to share with young people who want to learn more about agriculture?

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#6

Thank you, these will be a good place to start.

#7

I was an agricultural missionary in South Sudan for 8 years. My training materials are available if you want to use them. I have a number of presentations: human urine as fertilizer (if the local culture can get past the stigma), Best Management Practices decision tree, alley cropping, living fences, high value agroforestry techniques. Most of these have been presented at ECHO conferences. You can reach out to me at janzen200@yahoo.com. I have a lot of agricultural contacts in South Sudan and some in Aweil.