ATL Skills

During this project the ATL skills that I used the most were: research, communication, and self-management. I chose research as research was a critical part of my project as prior to the project I didn't have any experience or knowledge in hydroponics so I needed to do alot of research and trial/error inorder to ensure that I can provide the best care and environment for the plants to grow which is vital for making sure that my garden was able to achieve the goal I specified in the success criteria and rubric, for example I conducted research via an interview and to get to know the very basics and fundamentals of hydroponics which I used to get an idea of what hydroponics actually is, the material needed, the different types of system, basic care, etc. From there since I had gained a rudimentary understanding I conducted more in depth research into hydroponics and when I found conflicting or sketchy information or information that I couldn't find I consulted with the expert.

Communication also ties into research for my project as I had an expert who I conducted an interview with and would also turn to help for whenever I had questions that were specific or answers that were hard to get, for getting the most use out of the expert I needed research skills inorder to know what questions I should asks and communication skills to know how to ask them. Other examples of communication skills include consulting with/having meetings with mentors about the project such as progress, recommended sources, etc.

For self-management I created various timetables/tools to help me plan my project and to remind me when to do important things. For example in hydroponics it is recommended to do a water change every two weeks, so I thought of a way to remind myself of how long it has been since I last did a water change as two weeks is a long time and would be easy for me to get lost but with the system I could just check and no need for me to try and remember when was the last time I did it. I also created a timeline to help me manage time and to already know when to do certain tasks such as research, interview, etc without the timeline it would be hard to keep track of what to do and when to do them resulting in less efficiency. I also took weekly photos of my garden and its plants to document and check the progress.

Expert Interviews and Research

My expert was an Indonesian hydroponic hobbyist who has experience and has successfully grown many different types of plants using hydroponic gardens and while he does hydroponics as a hobby and not as a source of side income it was already adequate as I am just starting out and he already has a lot first hand experience. Before I did anymore research I conducted an interview with the expert first as an introduction to hydroponics and a guideline for my future research, during the first interview I asked basic questions regarding hydroponics mostly regarding: what is a hydroponic system, what does it look like, the materials needed, basic care requirements and routines for all hydroponic systems, and types of hydroponic systems. After the interview I conducted more detailed research about hydroponics such as the types of systems, how they work, their pros and cons, how are they different, lighting, best planting media, etc. During this phase of the project I also consulted with the expert especially when I was unable to a find a satisfactory answer or when I found information relating to certain products unavailable in Indonesia or temperature and humidity as Indonesia has a different climate compared to temperate parts of the world so certain equipment might be needed or not needed depending on the situation. During this stage I was also looking for the materials that would be needed to create and maintain the farm in local and online stores.

Product and process

Challenges

The 2 main challenges I faced during this PP was regarding discipline and building the system. During the project I found that while I already had a timeline I didn't really follow it as there there was no sense of urgency, no motivation and it didn't felt "official" like with a task deadline so a lot of the parts in the timeline were delayed by a few days or even weeks. Another example was that I rarely documented/wrote down what I did for my PP as while we were encouraged to make a weekly journal I didn't have the motivation to do it and I didn't really prepare that much for this project and didn't create things such as a research document, etc. The lack of evidence made it difficult for me to prove the ATL skills that I had used during my project for my report. The 2nd challenge was building the system as I have no experience regarding construction/tool use so it was extremely difficult to get the system to stay in place permanently with slight human interference such as touching, weather and for it to work with no leaks.

Personal and Community Impact

During and after the project I had learned about a lot of things relating to hydroponics and plants and relating to life/work in general. It has positively impacted me due to the many skills that I acquired or refined such as research, communication and self management. Other skills that I learned from the project include independence and time management as while there were people who would help me, for the most part it was up to me to create the timelines, due dates, research, etc. Overall because of the project I have gained a lot of knowledge regarding plants, hydroponic systems and gardening and learned some new things about independence and self management.

The project also impacted my household positively as the system was successful in producing crops for my household and in the future after the project the system could still be used to grow a variety of different food crops that my household can use.

Plans to sustain the project