Recipe4life works by us linking local schools with our projects in the developing world.
By doing this we are able to provide long term partners able to support these initiatives whilst also helping teachers to make the nitrogen cycle more interesting.
A warm welcome to St Anne's Academy
They have just joined us and have their first aquaponics propagation unit up and running. One of their goals is to work alongside the school chef to propagate plants for the kitchen garden.
Get Involved Growing Aquaponic fish and lettuce at your school
Aquaponics the combination of aquaculture (growing fish) and hydroponic (growing soilless plants) that mutually benefits both environments. Aquaponics uses no chemicals, requires 10% of the water needed for field plant production.
In aquaponics the waste from fish tanks is treated with natural bacteria that converts the waste, largely ammonia, first to nitrite and then to nitrate.
Share the Knowledge! Feed the world.
We now work with many schools local schools who have been so enthusiastic about the project we are hoping to make aquaponics tanks and lesson plans available nationally.
Hydroponics in Schools
The pilot project to link up primary and secondary schools was a great success.
Many thanks to the teachers and pupils of Brimrod primary school and special thanks to Mr Down at Mathew Moss for making the project possible.
All were in agreement visiting Mathew Moss was an excellent way in introduce and inspire year six pupils, allowing them to look forwards to the transition to high school.
We would also like to welcome St Edwards to the project The children there showed tremendous interest in the aquaponics lesson and are shortly due to install a second tank
Ecowall in action
There are plenty of places where space is at a premium and people do not think they could grow any fruit or veg there but an Ecowall is proof that you can
Plants grow vertically out of the wall and up, meaning that you can turn any container, prefab or school fence into an ecowall
Food in the City
Thank you for coming.
We had a superb day at Manchester Museum. Thank you eveyone for coming along and everybody for helping out.
Welcome to Holy Family & Oulder Hill
We would like to welcome to Holy Family & Oulder Hill schools to the hydroponics4life project.
We are hoping to recreate the success of the pilot project to link up primary and secondary schools, in which the pupils were successfully able to take cuttings from various types of mint and transplant them into the aquaponic propagator, allowing them see which rooted the fastest and which were more able to cope with stress.
Manchester Botanical Gardens
The Matthew Moss Team went to the Botanical Gardens with Hydroponics4Life, here a few of the pictures
Well done Matthew Moss
The pilot project with Matthew Moss High has been a great success. They now have three tanks and are passing on all they have learned to Brimrod Primary School
Educational Resources
Primary Resources
Ecology the study of "All togetherness of everything" or "the interdependence of plants, animals and their environment". Ecological accountability and sustainable living are a vital part of living in the 21st Century, and therefore it is important to include these ideas into education of the adults of the future.
Exploring Hydroponics from an ecological starting point enables us to encompass many areas of the National Curriculum. It helps children and young people to form an integrated understanding of how hydroponics can contribute to the stabilisation of the world ecosystems. In particular it can show how the developing world can be taught to use hydroponics to enable them to become self-sufficient.
Secondary Education
Hydroponics4life aspires to integrate knowledge of the methods and usage of hydroponics and aquaponics into the curriculum of UK schools. By doing this we hope to raise awareness of the need for third world countries to become self sufficient in their own food production. To do this hydroponics4life has produced the Recipe4life with an aim to 'share the knowledge and feed the world'.
By integrating aquaponics into education we can make a combined effort to share the knowledge and feed the world. If we can achieve this we will be able to support projects all over the world and help them gain the know how to sustain and feed themselves.
Downloadable Documents
Primary
Secondary
Other Curriculum links and Recommended topics (full lesson plans coming soon)
- Importance of light and photosynthesis
- Plant growth variance due to differing temperatures
- Propagating peppermint and spearmint from cuttings
- Plant growth variance due to differing temperatures
- Setting up the Aquaponic propagation unit and how it works.
- The nitrogen cycle Nitrates nitrites and biological filters
- Basic monitoring and logging Temperature and humidity readings
- Advanced data logging and water testing Ph and EC readings
- Refractometer How to tell if the plant is eating healthy
- Eutrophication over fertilisation in nature and out tanks
- Roots and shoots Measuring root growth and plant heights.
- Comparisons between Aquaponic tanks
- Comparisons between hydroponics and soil culture.
- Advanced Etrophication How many fish balancing the system and biofilters
- Growing beans from seed
- E commerce growing ivy for profit
- Alge and Spirulina
- Benificital bacteria
- Biofilters and balancing a cycle
- Daphniia
Please contact us if you require information on how any of the above can be linked into your regular lesson plans.
If you are involved in teaching and you encounter other areas where the aquaponics propagation tank is useful or have ideas for lesson plans based on any of the above we would love to hear from you.
If you would like more information or to get involved in any of our projects, please contact us info@hydroponics4life.com
