Page 180 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

11 Developing a Sustainable Agricultural Curriculum in Malawi: Reconciling a Colonial Legacy 157

that may not be sustainable economically or environmentally. As these farmers
continue to interact in the global economy and are exposed to western agricultural
methods, hybridized practices and knowledge will continue to emerge as a necessity
for survival.
Dr. Chinkhuntha was awarded a doctoral degree by University of Malawi in
recognition for his experimentation, observation, knowledge creation, and exem-
plary practice in the village and to the world at large. His Freedom Gardens are a
model of food security and sustainable living needed not only by all poor nations
but the world as a whole because of safe ways of producing food. Sadly, shorting
after conducting the interviews, Dr. Chinkhuntha passed away. His son, Daniel, how-
ever, continued to work with our research team to develop a sustainable agriculture
curriculum that was delivered using mobile phone technology.

Developing a Sustainable Agricultural Curriculum

The sustainable farming practices of Dr. Chinkhuntha and his family were used to
develop a sustainable agricultural curriculum at a Malawian primary school
(Glasson et al. 2008), referred to as the Mobile Malawi Project (www.mmp.soe.
vt.edu). As the curriculum included background information and knowledge of the
hybridized farming practices of Dr. Chinkhuntha, effort was made to develop lesson
plans that were delivered using mobile phone technology. The lessons included
information about sustainable agricultural practices from Freedom Gardens such as
gravity-fed irrigation, composting, sunken plots, and organic pest control (see
sample from lesson in Fig. 1). The gardening activities for the children were
designed to employ the use of indigenous tools such as hoes and spades. High-cost
inputs such as the use of synthetic fertilizers or herbicides were rejected as unsus-
tainable and were therefore not included in the description of farming practices in
the lesson plans.
The lesson plans included instructions for the primary school teacher to ask
questions to Daniel, the son of Dr. Chinkhuntha, and to document the progress of
the Malawian children in growing a sustainable garden at the school site (see
sample lesson on sunken plots in Fig. 2). Smart phones with Internet connectivity
were issued to Daniel and a primary school teacher, Timothy Banda. In piloting the
4
curriculum, Timothy was able to use the phone to ask questions for Daniel though
text messaging, voice calls, and by sending an e-mail and posting information on a
project data website. In return, Daniel was able to answer the questions by also
posting an e-mail response on the website. Photos documenting the progress of the
sustainable garden that the children were growing were taken using the mobile
phone and also uploaded to the project data site.

4 Dr. Wotchiwe Kalande, a local science and agricultural educator, assisted Timothy with the
curriculum and using the smart phone.