Growing rice

Year level: Lower primary / middle primary Aim To develop an understanding of time and energy required in rice production without labour saving devices Examine these photos   Rice planting in Vietnam (Tim Acker/AusAID)   Women weed their rice paddy in Sri Lanka (Will Salter/AusAID) A Cambodian woman is harvesting her paddy rice (AusAID) Farmers detach paddy rice from the bran by threshing (hitting) it on a piece of wood in Cambodia. (AusAID) Farmers winnow, let the bran blow away from the paddy rice, in Cambodia. (Tim Acker/AusAID) A farmer dries his rice in the midday sun in Vietnam. Will Salter/AusAID Describe what is happening in each photo. Use grains of rice and some long seedy grass to try each of these activities. Draw (or take a digital photograph) and describe yourself doing one of these tasks. Put the steps in the order they would happen and try to estimate how long they would take. Review the glossary http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/pid/841 to find the verbs describing the process. What steps are missing from this series of photos? Discuss How is the work being done in the photos? How long would each task take? What factors would influence the amount of time taken for each task? Who is doing the work? Is there a difference between the work that men and women do? What factors would influence the amount of energy (human, technology and environment) needed to grow rice? What might limit the size of the crop? What could a family do if they cannot produce rice enough to eat? How might the same work be done on an Australian farm? Assessment task Make a statement about the time and energy required to grow rice when resources of land and machinery are limited.