Teaching Practice of Integrating Labor Education into Specialized Courses: A Case Study of Plant Cultivation and Maintenance

Chuanlei LI, Nianhua SHEN

1. Wuxi Open University, Wuxi 214011, China; 2. Suzhou Tourism and Finance Institute, Suzhou 215104, China

Abstract Vocational colleges attach great importance to labor education. Specialized courses are an effective way to cultivate students’ labor quality, and the integration of labor education in specialized courses plays an important role in the overall cultivation of students’ moral quality and practical ability. Combined with the teaching practice of landscape technology specialty, labor education is integrated into the teaching of Plant Cultivation and Maintenance, and certain results have been achieved. In this paper, the course content "grafting propagation" was analyzed from the aspects of overall teaching design, teaching implementation process, teaching effect and reflection improvement, so as to provide reference for other contents of this major or other majors to carry out integrated teaching.

Key words Labor education, Specialized courses, Plant cultivation, Plant conservation

1 Introduction

Labor education, which is an education that enables students to establish correct labor views and attitudes, love labor and working people, and form the habit of working, is one of the main contents of the comprehensive development of moral, intellectual, physical, beauty and labor education[1]. The combination of classroom education and labor practice is the important connotation of Marxist labor view. Professional courses are an effective way to cultivate students’ labor literacy[2]. Integrating labor education into professional courses is very necessary to comprehensively cultivate students’ moral quality and practical ability.

From the investigation of the current situation of labor education of agriculture and forestry majors in vocational colleges in Jiangsu Province, it is learned that the course of Plant Cultivation and Conservation in landscape technology major is more closely related to productive labor in labor education. Labor education can be combined with the contents of "sowing", "cutting", "grafting", "weeding", "pruning", "pest control", "fertilization" and "whiteness" in this course, so as to carry out integrated education and teaching practice, and cultivate students’ spirit of hard-working, teamwork and excellence. From September 2022 to January 2023, taking the course of Plant Cultivation and Conservation as an example, the school fully explored the teaching elements of labor education in the course, designed a variety of labor education teaching activities, integrated labor education with information technology, and carried out the integration of labor education and professional courses. In this paper, "grafting propagation" was discussed to provide reference for other contents of this major or other majors to carry out integrated teaching.

2 Integrated teaching design

2.1 Integrating teaching materials and improving professional abilityThe content is selected from the professional platform course Plant Cultivation and Propagation Technology of Landscape technology major, and the textbook is selected from the national standard textbookCultivationTechnologyofGardenPlantsedited by Li Yonghong and published by China Light Industry Press. The topic is from the task item 3 Grafting Propagation of learning situation 2 Seedling Production, with a total of 16 h.

By combining the talent training program and curriculum standards, integrating industry standards and the requirements of green chemical industry positions, considering the employment prospects of students in the later stage, the knowledge content is processed and expanded, and the content of "pulp and heart grafting" and "root grafting" which are rarely used in actual production is omitted. The herb grafting (watermelon grafting) and woody plant grafting (rose grafting) are used as the carriers. The task is divided into two modules: plan formulation and implementation. The teaching is carried out with task implementation process as the main line.

Among them, the plan formulation module mainly includes rootstock selection, material and tool selection, grafting method selection, and development of maintenance management measures after grafting. The plan implementation module is mainly divided into two practical training links: grafting operation and grafting maintenance. Through grafting operation, students can further consolidate their theoretical knowledge in the process of grafting and better grasp the operation steps and methods of grafting. In the maintenance link, students complete the conservation after grafting according to the conservation plan, find and solve problems, and find out the deficiencies in the plan in practice.

2.2 Conducting individualized teaching and analyzing learning situation in depthThe teaching object of this project is the sophomore students of five-year vocational landscape technology major, who have learned Basic Knowledge of Garden Plants, Recognition of Garden Plants, Production Environment of Garden Plants and other courses, and have a certain understanding of plant types, plant cultivation environment and other basic knowledge.

Students have learned the two items of "sowing propagation" and "cutting propagation" in this course in the early stage, and can use the "Plant Cultivation Material Bank" to consult the introduction of plant materials, screen the materials and tools of plant propagation, and watch the videos of common methods of plant propagation. They are able to proficiently use the vocational education cloud platform to complete homework tasks before, during and after class, form a relatively stable learning group, complete group cooperative exploration tasks, have good teamwork ability, and create favorable conditions for independent learning and group cooperative learning. However, many students have a weak sense of labor, fear of dirt and hardship, and lack basic professional knowledge, such as not understanding the affinity between plant materials, rootstock and scion thickness degree. Fortunately, they are willing to accept new things, have strong hands-on ability, and can learn through teamwork.

2.3 Synchronizing requirements and adjusting course contentAccording to the actual demands of melon and flower farmers in the production process, the teaching and production needs are synchronized. The teaching is carried out through the project, and the content of the course is adjusted, with a total of 16 class hours. The distribution of specific class hours is shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Allocation of class hours of grafting propagation

2.4 Setting learning goals according to the taskAccording to the learning situation and task of students, the three dimensional goals of knowledge goal, ability goal and accomplishment goal are formulated. The knowledge goal is to let students master the selection of rootstocks and scions, the selection of plant grafting method and the maintenance method of grafting seedlings. The ability goal is to use the material library to access and screen data, make and revise the plan, use grafting tools flexibly for grafting operation, and control the cultivation environment of grafting seedlings scientifically. The accomplishment goal is to train students to correct labor attitude, and feel rigorous and serious labor spirit. Among them, the selection of rootstock and scion materials is the focus of teaching, and the operation process of grafting is the difficulty of teaching.

2.5 Improving efficiency and adopting teaching strategies

2.5.1Independent inquiry and information-based teaching. According to the teaching content, various information means are selected, such as electronic platform of Chinese flora, vocational education cloud platform, real-time recording and broadcasting screen equipment, "plant cultivation material library",etc.A variety of teaching methods are used, such as project driven method, group teaching method, demonstration teaching method, cooperative inquiry method, teaching and practice combination method, comparative method,etc.

2.5.2Various forms and edutainment. This course is taught through a series of methods, such as video import, information inquiry, plan making, plan reporting, plan revision, plan implementation (grafting operation, and maintenance after grafting), multiple evaluation,etc., so as to mobilize students’ enthusiasm, cultivate students’ ability of independent inquiry, and reflect the teaching concept of taking students as the main body and teachers as the leading.

3 Teaching implementation process

The teaching is driven by the real task that "farmers encounter difficulties in the production process and need technical support". In the teaching, the platform feedback is used to determine teaching according to learning situation, and information means are used to break through the traditional teaching mode, so as to achieve the purpose of science and technology helping agriculture, rural areas and farmers and improving farmers’ income. In combination with the school’s talent training objectives and syllabus requirements, according to students’ actual situation and professional learning characteristics, in accordance with the overall design requirements of "modular professional curriculum system based on ability, with professional practice as the main line and project curriculum as the main body", project-based teaching is carried out. The main line is from grafting program formulation to implementation, and digital teaching platform is used throughout the teaching. Students mainly complete the task in the form of independent learning and cooperative exploration.

3.1 Claim taskThrough video introduction, it is found that farmers are looking to improve the quality and yield of their watermelon and cut rose products, thereby increasing their income. Teachers issue the assignment, and students receive the assignment. Each group makes their own plan according to the plan catalog. Students are encouraged to do good things for the society and others through professional knowledge and hard work and realize their personal value.

3.2 Scheme makingDuring “plan formulation”, according to the program catalog provided, students are guided to search theFloraofChina(electronic edition) to understand the taxonomic status, morphological characteristics and biological characteristics of scions. The "plant cultivation material library" independently developed by teachers is used to select rootstocks and scions, materials and tools, and grafting methods, and formulate conservation and management measures. Through the inquiry of "plant cultivation material library", students can understand the morphological characteristics and affinity of scions and rootstocks. According to the table of seedling diameter grades, students can intuitively grasp the thickness of rootstocks and scions, and then choose appropriate plant materials, so as to stimulate their students’ interest in exploration and improve their students’ ability of independent learning.

3.3 Plan report and revisionThe student representatives of each group report the plan from the aspects of scion and rootstock selection, seedling rearing, grafting operation, post-grafting maintenance,etc.Other groups of students raise questions and suggestions, and the reporting group gives answers. When students could not answer the questions, teachers give hints and summaries. In the communication and discussion, students will learn from everyone’s wisdom and strength to optimize and improve their team plan.

3.4 Plan implementation

3.4.1Grafting operation. During "plan implementation", teachers demonstrate operation with seewo software and real-time screen projection of teaching equipment, and then students perform grafting operation. Students can watch videos of standardized operation repeatedly according to their own progress to standardize their grafting operation, so that students can experience and feel the beauty of labor while practicing professional skills, such as concentration, persistence, creation, harvest and so on. In the process of student operation, real-time screen casting is also carried out. Teachers pay attention to the screen casting and track the grafting operation of students in each group in time, and standardize the operation of students in time. Students can effectively break through the key points of teaching by watching teacher’s screen operation, the cyclic play of the standard operation video of grafting in the teaching PPT and teachers’ tour guidance. According to the grafting standard operation video in the vocational education cloud platform, students watch the key points of operation technology step by step to solve the teaching difficulties of students in grafting operation. In the teaching process, teachers teach famous deeds to students and encourage them to accumulate the spirit of labor, so as to inject inexhaustible motivation to students, motivate them to overcome difficulties, and making them become a person like Zhang Xiping (a national technical expert), Wang Jiqiang (the inhertor of Su Pai bonsai skill) and Wang Chunxi (a technical expert in Jiangsu Province). Sharp blades will be used in the grafting process, students are likely to cut fingers, so they are informed that safety is the necessary labor quality for workers to protect their lives. In practice training and future work, they should obey the command of instructors and internship masters, strictly implement relevant safety regulations, and wear labor protection products as required before entering the practice training site. During grafting, necessary protection should be done in advance, such as binding tape on the blade, paying attention to the knife and force direction. If there is a cut wound, the necessary disinfection treatment should be taken, and emergency medical attention is needed in severe cases.

3.4.2Maintenance after grafting. The maintenance management after grafting adopts modern management facilities and equipment to control the cultivation environment of grafted seedlings such as temperature, humidity, air and light, which overcomes the problem of open field cultivation affected by phenology, climate and so on, and improves the survival rate of grafted seedlings. Through the study of modern facilities and equipment operation, skilled personnel is trained to adapt to modern seedling production. Maintenance takes a long time, and strengthens students’ cognition, professional emotion and professional experience[3]. Meanwhile, it also cultivates students’ spirit of bearing hardships actively and not afraid of difficulties, dirty and tiring.

3.5 Teaching evaluationThe multi-evaluation system is constructed according to the teaching objectives of the course. With the help of the cloud platform of vocational education, the whole process before, during and after class is included in the assessment. The content involves pre-class tasks, in-class activities, and relevant score and evaluation data of the final detection. Teaching evaluation is completed according to self-evaluation, others’ evaluation and teacher evaluation, and the final evaluation is fed back to students and teachers through the cloud platform of vocational education to adjust teaching objectives and improve teaching methods. Specific evaluation indicators and evaluation criteria are shown in Table 2 and Table 3.

Table 2 Evaluation of professional teaching

Table 3 Evaluation of labor education

4 Learning effect

In the teaching process, the educational concept of "taking students as the main body and teachers as the leading factor" is fully embodied. In teaching, teachers are organizers, interpreters, then instructor and visitor, and finally judges and correctors. According to the actual situation of students, teachers can adjust the teaching method effectively at any time and master the rhythm of teaching to make the teaching go smoothly. They effectively realize the classroom flip, students’ independent learning and independent exploration, stimulate students’ interest and make them better understand the professional knowledge learned in class.

According to the vocational education cloud, students’ learning situation is tracked in time. In accordance with the feedback data of the platform, students’ abilities in various aspects are improved to different degrees. Students are able to consult and select materials according to the material library, make and revise the plan. The team representatives report gracefully, master the selection of rootstocks and scions with the help of the material library, and are able to use grafting tools for grafting operation flexibly. Greenhouse facilities and equipment are used to control the cultivation environment of grafting seedlings. It strengthens students’ historical responsibility of science and technology to help agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and gives play to students’ spirit of teamwork and excellence.

5 Reflection and improvement

In the teaching process, labor education is effectively integrated, which is conducive to students to establish a correct labor concept and attitude, and in line with students’ moral, intellectual, physical, beauty and labor development requirements. Through grafting technology, the yield and quality of watermelon and cut flower rose is effectively improved, and the income of farmers is enhanced effectively.

The educational concept of "taking students as the main body and teachers as the leading factor" is fully embodied in the teaching process. The project is driven by real tasks. Students search and screen useful information through the "plant cultivation material library", complete the preliminary scheme, report scheme and revised scheme from the aspects of scion and rootstock selection, material and tool selection, grafting method selection and post-grafting maintenance, and then carry out the scheme implementation. In the teaching process, students are encouraged to design and implement different schemes, and make reasonable use of information means, learn the selection of scions and rootstocks, master the key points of grafting technology. The achievement of students’ tasks is intuitively understood through multi-dimensional evaluation. In addition to the affinity between plants and the maintenance management level after grafting, the success rate of plant grafting is also affected by the technical level of grafters. Students improve the technical level of grafting by selectively watching grafting standard operation videos and constantly practicing.

In the actual teaching, students can fully grasp the essentials of operation technology, but their proficiency of grafting operation is not enough, and they need long-term continuous practice to cultivate their labor spirit of excellence. If the equipment used to cut scions is available, in the case of standardized seedling breeding, the mass production of qualified scions can be conducted, which will save manpower and material resources and adapt to the future production trend of seedlings.