Where does the mango come from?

Please note that the tasks for your students are listed chronologically. Make sure the students know when they have to implement the organizational tasks.

1. Introduction to the project:

a. Give an overview of what is planned in this project and the time span in which this project will be implemented

b. Ask students how much they know about farming apples or mangoes

2. Introduce students to information materials and resources to start the project

c. Introduce the students to the 4 different working groups

d. Let students choose which group and therefore which focus questions they want to join

e. Give the students an overview of the 4 groups and give them time for the rest of the first lesson to go through their roles and ask questions for clarification

Group 1:

Organizational tasks:

• Planning the visit to the apple farm (contacts for Vienna: https://www.schuleambauernhof.at/hofsuche/, https://www.schuleambauernhof.at/betrieb/gaertnerei-jakubek/,  https://www.schuleambauernhof.at/betrieb/bauernhof-trimmel/)

• Create a kahoot which your whole class can have access to and type in your questions and answers (https://create.kahoot.it/auth/login -> create an account to be able to use kahoot for free -> the basic version

Research & implementation tasks

• Asking about question set 1 (see below ⇾ 3. research) at the excursion and write down the answers
• Researching question set 1 on the mango
• Visualizing question set 1 on the apple & the mango
• Type your questions & answers into the same Kahoot as your class

Group 2:

Organizational tasks:

• Plan (date & time) the second project meeting for the class for visualizing the questions of this project (2-3 hours)

•  Plan presentation hour (date & time) in the school for students from other classes

Research & implementation tasks

• Asking about question set 2 at the excursion and write down the answers
• Researching question set 2 on the mango
• Visualizing question set 2 on the apple & the mango
• Type your questions & answers into the same Kahoot as your class

Group 3:

Research & implementation tasks

• Asking about question set 3 at the excursion and write down the answers
• Researching question set 3 on the mango
• Visualizing question set 3 on the apple & the mango
• Type your questions & answers into the same Kahoot as your class

Organizational tasks:

• Quality check: are the visualized ideas of the whole class understandable and informative for students from other classes? To do this, either invite two students from another class to give feedback on the following questions: Do I understand what this group has visualized? If needed, what can be improved to make it more understandable? Or you can also ask yourself these questions and give feedback based on your opinion.)

Group 4:

Research & implementation tasks

• Asking about question set 4 at the excursion and write down the answers
• Researching question set 4 on the mango
• Visualizing question set 4 on the apple & the mango
• Type your questions & answers into the same Kahoot as your class

Organizational tasks:

• Invite peers/students to take part in your presentation hour (make sure to inform about this event at least one week before the event

• During the presentation: Introduce the project and invite your peers to answer the kahoot questions before looking at the presentation materials and afterwards (to see how much they have learned from you)

3. Research

Give each group their question set and ask if the questions are clear to them. Each group has a question set on the apple and on the mango.

Questions for the farmer on apples:

Question set 1 on apple:

• How much time does it take for an apple seedling to bear its first fruits?
• What climate conditions do apple trees need to be able to grow fruits?
• Does the current climate change impact the harvest of the apples?
• How many apples does an apple tree bear on average in one season?

Question set 2 on apple:

• When is the season for harvesting apples?
• How are apples harvested - which tools are used?
• Who is harvesting the apples and what are their working conditions (for example: how many hours per day are they working?)
• How long does it take to harvest one apple tree?

Question set 3 on apple:

• How many apples can be harvested in one apple orchard (with estimated amount of trees)?
• Which criteria do the harvested apples have to fit into to be sold?
• How are apples stored so they stay fresh for the next months?
• What are the transportation steps after the apples have been harvested to reach a supermarket? (list all the stops)

Question set 4 on apple:

• How can you know where an apple comes from? (From which region up to which farmer)
• How do you differentiate if an apple is from an organic or conventional agriculture in the (super) market?
• What impact does organic and conventional agriculture have on the environment in your region?
• What impact does food from organic and conventional agriculture have on your body? (Could also be a research question)

Research questions on the mango and possible resources:

Question set 1 on mango:

• How much time does it take for a mango seedling to bear its first fruits?
• What climate conditions do mango trees need to be able to grow fruits?
• Does the current climate change impact the harvest of the mangoes?
• How many mangoes does a mango tree bear in one season?

The Spruce - grow mango seeds

Envirobites - do mangies like it hot?

Justagric - how many mangoes per tree

Mango.org - mango tree

Question set 2 on mango:

• When is the season for harvesting mangoes? 
• How are mangoes harvested -  which tools are used? 
• Who is harvesting the mangoes and what are their working conditions (for example: how many hours per day are they working?)
• How long does it take to harvest one mango tree?

Lifehack.org - you know where your fruit comes from

Question set 3 on mango:

• How many mangoes can be harvested in one mango orchard (with estimated amount of trees)? 
• Which criteria do the harvested mangoes have to fit into to be sold? 
• How long do mangoes stay fresh? 
• What are the transportation steps after the mangoes have been harvested to reach a supermarket? (list all the stops)

Frontiersin.org - supply chain management of a mango

Freshknowledge - the mango supply chain

Wikifarmer - mangi yield harvest and post harvest handling

Question set 4 on mango:

• How can you know where a mango comes from? (From which region up to which farmer) 
• How do you differentiate if a mango is from an organic or conventional agriculture in the (super) market?
• What is organic agriculture? 
• What is conventional agriculture?

Lifehack.org - you know where your fruit comes from

NCBI - conventional vs. organic agriculture

4. Reflection

Discuss with students the outcome of the project

• What have we learned?
• What went well? What not? Why? What can we do to make it better next time?

5. Survey

The students of group 1 will create a Kahoot quiz, where all the other groups type in their questions and answers. By using this quiz, it can also be used as a survey. Save the questions and answers on Kahoot so you can use it for the next project.

6. Presentation

The students of group 4 will organize a presentation hour in their school, where all the 4 groups will display their visualizations. In this presentation hour, other peers are invited to inform themselves about the outcomes and take part in the Kahoot quiz.