Rural Science on the School Time

INTRODUCTION

Rural science is the science and technology of plant and animal husbandry, both for primary food production and as an asset to the aesthetic qualities of life.

In essence it is an appreciation of the factors which affect the long term well being of the land and plants and animals. This develops an understanding of man’s utilisation of the Earth’s resources and the science and technology he applies to the production of his food, and to the quality of his environment for both his amenity and leisure activities.

Historical development

Although there are records of agricultural education taking place in schools from as long ago as 300 years, the terms ‘rural science ‘ and ‘rural studies’ only appeared in the second decade of this century.

Activities involving plant and animal husbandry increased rapidly in secondary schools during and after the second world war as a consequence of the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. Following the formation of several county associations of teachers involved in the subject, a National Rural Studies Association was formed in 1959. Ten years later the Schools Council Working Paper No. 24, ‘Rural Studies in Schools’ was published, this being followed by the Schools Council sponsored ‘Project Environment’.

This period marked the beginning of a new popular awareness of the problems of conservation and pollution control, and it was felt that these matters ought to receive some consideration at school level. As a result the ‘environmental studies’ approach gained ground while the emphasis on plant and animal husbandry diminished. By 1971, the national subject teachers’ association had renamed itself ‘The National Association for Environmental Education’.

Content

Until the l970s rural science was largely concerned with husbandry—involved investigations. P.J. Burns in his report to the 1978 DES Conference quoted an early National Rural Studies Association pamphlet, in which it was suggested that activities might include:

growing plants and experimenting with them under controlled conditions in a greenhouse or a garden planned for scientific studies
studies of farms and natural habitats
maintaining a plot in a state forest
running a school livestock unit, sometimes even a small school farm
laboratory investigations linking work with plants and animals to scientific principles.

At schools which still retain this approach, the content of rural science is characterised by the study of aspects of agriculture and horticulture. Thus it is concerned with the production of plants and animals which have food or amenity value. The educational value of firsthand experience and investigation has long been appreciated, together with that of children being involved in the long term care of plants and animals.

Rural science is a stimulating and vital area of applied science, in which rapid progress is being made. Unfortunately this is not always reflected in school curricula and particularly in some examination syllabuses more specifically the husbandry and investigative aspects of the subject have sadly decreased.

It is clear through such developments as city farms that the urban population is no longer prepared to remain unaware of the rural systems — and why should they? Now, more than ever before, there is a real need to educate so that the public can appreciate the rural environment.

It is suggested that in order to be of most value to the widest ability range of children, the scope of rural science should not be too broad. Investigations of town planning, for example, are more appropriate for the geographer than for the scientist at school level, and the past inclusion of such topics has blurred the definition of the subject area. Rural science can play an important role in scientific, aesthetic and moral education, through the practice of animal and plant husbandry and laboratory-based activities and investigation of local habitats.

Rural science is taught as a part of the science education within school curricula and therefore the aims of science education, as stated by the Association for Science Education in ‘Education through Science’, are naturally embodied in part in the aims of rural science. Rural science as a distinct part of the curriculum should provide young people with a structured experience which will satisfy the general aims as stated below.

These aims provide the framework within which any rural science teacher can arrange a personal scheme of work to achieve particular objectives for school pupils at different phases of their education. The aims also indicate that rural science has an intrinsic value within the total science curriculum offered to pupils in compulsory education.

Figure One: Measurement of live weight gain of a pig for calculating efficiency of food conversion. Piglets in this Derbyshire school are reared to pork weight, slaughtered in a local abattoir and sold for deep freezers so that pupils can make the calculations from first—hand data.

Rural science has, in its own right, much intrinsic scientific interest, but there is a danger of moulding rural science to fit into the pattern of traditional science courses. Scientific concepts in rural science arise from the basic investigatory nature of the subject and a holistic approach. Scientific principles are applied to the solving of immediately perceived and identifiable problems arising from the pupils’ own observations of a practical situation which is generally initiated by their experience with the plants, animals or land for which they are responsible. Pupils are able to study plant and animal physiology and biochemistry by observation and experimentation on the whole organism, on a different scale to that usually possible in the laboratory, with a view to maximising its health, well-being and profitability, instead of an academic approach from a cellular or even a molecular level. At the same time, of course, a thriving rural science department can and should support with materials and ideas the teaching of the other sciences.

Clearly rural science students learn many practical skills when handling, observing and investigating plants and animals. Some of these are of a general scientific nature, others are more specific to agricultural science. Likewise pupils learn cognitive skills such as analysis and interpretation of data, hypothesis formation and testing, and the planning of investigations -all of which are clearly high order scientific skills. Pupils are given the opportunity for original scientific research as individuals, or within a group project with the important communications and interactions in the group.

The study of rural science involves the pupil in a much more personal view of the scientific world than do the traditional sciences. This personalised view can be at the exciting, emotional level of seeing a birth (or a death). The pupil is placed in his social and historical context as fundamentally a producer of food. Pupils perceive value judgements when analysing modern farming practices and the welfare of animals or the conservation of the natural environment. Rural science provides opportunities for the learning of skills for the pursuit of a lifetime of leisure interests or the gleaning of information leading to original research. It is the area of science which most readily moves into a direct and rewarding concern not only for the pupil’s own plants and animals but also for his whole environment and for the general global problems facing modern Man.

The need to care for living materials either in the school or through observations on local farms has often resulted in a greater motivation and interest than in the traditional more detached academic disciplines. It has also been a considerable help to many pupils in their future working lives and increasingly in their leisure time since so much of the subject has been self-evidently meaningful and helpful and has been one of the few areas of the school curriculum in which pupils could show a creative and caring concern for those in their charge. It has given an increased sense of responsibility in both the social and scientific senses, and produced a long—term framework in which the pupil could operate.

A well established feature of this method of working is the way in which new insights and points of contact are gained by the teacher as children demonstrate a knowledge and expertise usually totally hidden in more academic pursuits. Behaviour, too, can often change as the pupils exercise a new responsibility and thereby improve their own self—image and gain a new sense of purpose and respect, as they care with a jealous affection for their plots or stock. In short rural science can lead to many interesting “happenings”, which can enrich both the teacher and the pupil and improve relationships between them. In the future, the use of microcomputers and monitoring systems will enable new investigations to be undertaken in the laboratory and in the field, and open up new possibilities for children to continue to carry out experimental work — “experimentation” in its true sense of exploring unknown situations, rather than carrying out merely routine exercises and simulations which so often pass for experimental work in schools science.

The time scales in the practices of horticulture and agriculture are often very different from those experienced in traditional science. They provide opportunities for students to study in a more relaxed and open ended way. There is not the same pressure to complete and ‘parcel up’ a piece of study. Many pupils respond to the slower rates of progress of plants and animals, and do benefit from the less frantic disciplines imposed. The realisation of the inevitability of seasonal progress and change is more important to urban children than ever before.

Thus rural science is an excellent vehicle for teaching the processes of science. Since this is a controversial and highly disputed area of the educational debate, we have taken as our working model that used by the ASE in ‘Education through Science’. Rural science provides children with a basic knowledge and understanding of the world in which they live and moreover by looking after living things they develop a responsibility for the plants and animals in their care. The subject also develops an enquiring mind and provides open-ended practical problems . Pupils are applying scientific concepts to a real situation. It is apparent to the pupil that these concepts are both relevant and necessary. The managerial, the practical and the manipulative skills needed to manage livestock and crops can be developed from a simple level up to a sophisticated understanding as the pupil matures. Through the study of rural science the pupils can extend their scientific knowledge and interest, and are helped to communicate with interested bodies in industry and commerce at local and national levels.

Agricultural decisions often involve the choice between the lesser of two evils, weighing the advantages against disadvantages, when considering the financial and social implications of one’s actions. The use of fertilisers, pesticides, intensive agriculture such as battery farming is neither wholly right nor wholly wrong, they can be used wisely or irresponsibly. Pupils, through rural science, have the opportunity to look at such issues objectively.

The horticultural and agricultural industries are, of course, at the forefront of the application of new techniques in macro— and micro—technologies, and the child’s direct experience of these technologies in local industries ensures that a study of rural science can encompass the oldest traditions of stock rearing and cultivation, as well as the most recent developments at the forefront of Man’s knowledge and manipulative skills when producing food and controlling the environment in which he lives.

Rural science also provides a vehicle for presenting to the pupil the concept of the interdependence of plants and animals, and man’s part in the ecosystem. Since the populated world revolves around an agricultural foundation, it can sensibly be demonstrated that good husbandry and planning are essential criteria if shortage and suffering are to be avoided. The agricultural industry in this country is now highly sophisticated with the widespread use of computers for recording, planning and projection of targets. Chemical weapons, plant breeding and biological pest control can all

be broached or profitably illustrated in rural science. The world scale of these problems is clearly a vital issue of which young people should be aware. If the problems are to be overcome scientists will play a key role. Thus agricultural science can be seen to interact with other agencies in international society, and pupils may learn how a scientific perspective can complement other perspectives or ways of organising knowledge and inquiry. Science makes a contribution not only to our cultural heritage but to the whole world economy. The conflict between science and society can be illustrated clearly in the rural economy and pupils gain first hand experience of scientific inter-action.

The authors of ‘Alternatives for Science Education’ (ASE 1979) said: “a good science education should seek to develop a range of intellectual skills and cognitive patterns which help youngsters to handle the problems of growing up in, and integrating with, a society that is heavily dependent on scientific and technological knowledge and its utilization”. Rural science aims to develop in pupils a sense of responsibility, self confidence, social awareness and maturity in the practical approach to learning about living material.

Rural science is able to “stimulate, maintain and develop interest, to foster curiosity, and to encourage a growing awareness of the diversity and open—endedness of scientific inquiry and an appreciation of its relevance to everyday life”. (‘Education through Science’ ASE 1981). The subject gives a total experience — a totally integrated science experience, it takes a holistic view-point. Lord Bullock (SSR, 201, 57, 1976) talked about the ‘monolithic, dehumanised image of science’ and expressed the belief that it was possible “to establish a view of it as a humane study, deeply concerned with both man and society; providing scope for imagination and comparison as well as observation and analysis”.

Rural science endeavours to achieve these ideals and therefore has an important part to play in science education in secondary schools, and can provide a valuable base in earlier schooling. In addition the subject has an important part to play in sixth form courses for students wishing to extend their knowledge of science in a technological world, and who are not solely seeking a traditional academic course.

Figure Two: Cultivation of the land is a basic agricultural process. Hand tools and small pieces of farm machinery can be used in schools to demonstrate principles of soil cultivation.

1. The contribution made by rural science to the curriculum is both supplementary and complementary to that made by the other sciences. The rural science contribution provides pupils with an understanding of man’s basic technology - agriculture — and of how both scientific method and scientific knowledge are used to develop methods of production in an economic and efficient manner. Studies of the environment of agriculture show pupils how people make judgments about uses of land, balanced with other factors such as maintaining an ecological equilibrium, ensuring conservation of natural resources and living things, and allowing for social factors.

2. Rural science requires pupils to care for and maintain plants and animals in a sustained manner over periods of time whilst also acquiring husbandry skills. Rural science therefore has value in developing responsibility in pupils and providing for their emotional development.

3. The need for continual care for living things is allied, in some instances, with long term experiments. In these circumstances pupils learn that patience is a necessity in order to obtain experimental results.

4. Rural science offers opportunities for pupils not only to learn about a technology, but also to learn something about the creative design process of technology. Pupils engaged in investigative work learn to apply science to the solution of practical problems.

5. In many instances, rural science concerns topics that do not require conceptualisation in the same way as the other sciences, and thus it is suitable for pupils of all abilities. Equally, rural science provides an intellectual challenge which requires abstract thinking and so is demanding for the most able pupils.

6. The practical work associated with rural science provides a particular stimulus for many pupils because it requires study and the use of skills associated with large scale situations which are perceived as relevant to everyday life.

7. For some pupils, rural science provides a stimulus for a leisure activity, and for others it lays the foundation for a vocation. In both cases, the interest will be based upon an experimental approach to learning about agricultural topics.

8. Testimonies to the value of rural science in the science education of pupils have been reiterated at intervals and are found in publications such as Schools and the Countryside (1958, HMSO), The Teaching of Rural Studies (Carson, S. McB. and Colton, R . W., 1962, Arnold), Rural Studies in Secondary Schools, (Schools Council, 1969, Evans/Methuen) and Rural Science — an Applied View of Science, (1984, ASE).

Rural science has much intrinsic scientific interest and there is no need to justify its existence by reference to traditional aspects of school science which have too often caused students to reject Science.

Rural Science contributes to the Science Education of Secondary School Pupils, within the parameters stated below, in just the same way as the other Sciences make individual contributions with those parameters.

The aims of science education have been considered in relation to Rural Science and thus, for reference, the aims given by ASE in Education through Science are stated below.

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