Resources for Schools and Teachers Designing Experiments – Science Level: Middle School

Students will investigate recent field research studies on the ECHO-North America Small Farm Resource Center and the ECHO-Asia Small Farm Resource Center and then design their own experiments.

Activity 1 

ECHO-North America initiated a multi-year gliricidia intercropping trial. Researchers are trying to determine if the shade produced by gliricidia trees, spaced six meters apart, will affect the yield of maize and cowpea crops over time. Alternating rows of maize and cowpea were planted. The experimental design included the following: maize and cowpea planted under widely-spaced gliricidia trees, maize and cowpea planted under 30% shade cloth, and maize and cowpea alone.

Activity 2

 ECHO- Asia Small Farm Resource Center would like to set up a study comparing the growth performance of pigs fed with fermented banana stalk silage and pigs fed with commercial pig food as a supplement to their regular forage (farm harvested plants) diet.