project abstract The implantation of an ecological garden in educational centers is a very common resource today. There are numerous examples (in publications and on the web) where experiences of all kinds are exposed, linked to the garden as a pedagogical method. The ecological garden offers a multitude of educational possibilities, which go far beyond those provided by the planting and harvesting of fruits and vegetables. Associated with the garden project, you can explore other fields that will help our students to understand and respect the nature. The objective of this project is not to add one more proposal to the long list of contents that we can find about ecological gardens in institutes, but to offer a tour of some of the different alternatives that can be developed in an educational center, using the orchard as a backdrop. The different initiatives are presented structured in thematic blocks, ordered according to the moment of their implementation in the project of the ecological garden. In each thematic block, a series of activities related to some of the aspects of the block are proposed, and they seek to develop the objectives that are formulated in it.

TFM abstract: please help me ;) The implantation of an ecological garden in educational centers is a very common resource today. There are numerous examples (in publications and on the web) where experiences of all kinds are exposed, linked to the garden as a pedagogical method. The ecological garden offers a multitude of educational possibilities, which go far beyond those provided by the planting and harvesting of fruits and vegetables. Associated with the garden project, you can explore other fields that will help our students to understand and respect the nature. The objective of this project is not to add one more proposal to the long list of contents that we can find about ecological gardens in institutes, but to offer a tour of some of the different alternatives that can be developed in an educational center, using the orchard as a backdrop. The different initiatives are presented structured in thematic blocks, ordered according to the moment of their implementation in the project of the ecological garden. In each thematic block, a series of activities related to some of the aspects of the block are proposed, and they seek to develop the objectives that are formulated in it.

Extended family (part 2) I believe that the extended family (grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles) are less important now than it was in the past. Families groups in the past are more important… Family as institution is no longer necessary nowadays. In fact, elder parents (and children also) are more a charge today, than a help. Families are smaller than before. Many people live alone. Grandparents lives alone also, and the estate (instead of the family) take care of them. I don’t know if that family model is worse than the previous one. But it is true that the family is an important support for people who fail in their lives. A secure refuge where they can go if everything goes wrong.

Extended family I believe that the extended family (grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles) are less important now than it was in the past. Families groups in the past are more important… Most of the families lived in the countryside, working the ground, planting crops, feeding cattle, in other words, they are linked to a subsistence economy. All the family members worked together in order to earn enough money to provide food and clothes for everybody. The more children a family has, the more they can support to the family economy by their work. The money was administrated to supply the needed of all the family´s members. All people take care of eachother, and families are the keystone of the economy. Furthermore, if a family need help (money or food) the extended family provided it. Nowadays the system has changed. The society has become more selfish. People only want to earn money for supply their own necessities. Currently, it is easier than before, to find a job far away from the home town. Families no longer live in the same place. For example, brothers of the same family can work today in different towns, or in different countries. So, what can I say from cousins, aunts and uncles? Sometimes they don’t see eachother in decades (even, in some cases, some people don’t know their cousins, uncles or aunts).

A stable career vs adventturous life (part 2) Some people prefer to take the advantages of choosing a stable career, other prefer an adventurous lifestyle. But, which are the advantages and disadvantages of them? If you live an adventurous life, you don´t have stability, you can´t make plans beyond the present moment. But it makes your life funny and interesting. If you are always meeting new people, visiting different places, and changing your ambit every time, is impossible for you to get boring of life. Maybe you can be tired of that kind of lifestyle, but never be boring. I think that life is to live! So, if you have this possibility, why you should conform with wasting all your life in the same place, doing the same things every time, instead of moving around the world, and proving different jobs. In conclusion, the different lifestyles have different advantages and disadvantages. The calm and stable lifestyle is the best option for people who don’t have an adventurous personality (people who want to organize their life and to form a family), while the other option is for people who have a nervous personality.

A stable career vs adventurous life (part 19 Some people prefer to take the advantages of choosing a stable career, other prefer an adventurous lifestyle. But, which are the advantages and disadvantages of them? The advantages of having a stable lifestyle are that you can plan your life. Because you have a schedule, you know when your free time is. You can plan your vacancies with lot of time (with advantages such as booking the best hostel, taking the best organized tours, obtaining the cheapest flights…). Another good advantage is that, as you live always in the same town, is easier for you to form a family, and provides your children and wife (or husband) a stable live as well; that makes their life easier. But in the other hand, if you are working always in the same place, if you are seeing always the same faces, and if you are taking always the same routine, probably you will get tired of your live very soon.

Billions of dollars go into space exploration projects every year (part 1) Because billions of dollars go into space exploration projects every year, some people feel that this money should be used to solve problems on heart. But I think that is no more than an easy point of view. How would this money solve the heart´s problems? Isn´t there anything less important than space exploration, that/which costs us huge amount of money too? It is a typical claim that we should invest money on fighting against poverty. But most of the causes of currently poverty aren´t related with money, but with market and unfair trades between countries. With money we can buy food for hungry people for one day or more, but if the causes that led to poverty remain, the problem will still be there. It is an easy way, to give money and think we are contributing to reduce poverty, when our responsibility is to reclaim governments change their politics. In order to build a fair world, we should renounce to some of our privileges.

Are video games a waste of time? (part 2) In relation to the view that playing computers game it is a waste of time, it is proved that video games stimulate some brain areas, such as those related with the mental agility and the ability of taking decisions. In lot of video games, players have to solve different puzzles in order to achieve different goals. In others, players have to take decisions that, after, will have consequences on the game develop. Other video games consist on building a virtual environment or decorating a virtual place, that kind of video games develop the creativity of their players. Summarizing: video games are, nowadays, an important industry of entertainment. Probably, people who have not played with them, can´t understand why other people play with them instead of doing profitable things. They consider playing it a waste of time. But it is not completely true. Video games have several positives things and responsible use of them, are have benefits for their players.

Knowledge (part 2) Some people think that it is better to have a broad knowledge of many academic subjects, while other people thinks that it is better to specialize in one specific subject. In my opinion this depends of the goal we want to achieve. A broad knowledge of everything makes us more capable of solving different problems in our lives. Nowadays, for example, the most important goal of the science is to link the main physic laws, that role the big bodies in the university, with the behavior of the small particles of chemistry. In other words, the scientific community pretends to find a general theory that can be used in all the ambits. In order to achieve this objective, we need to use both matters (physic and chemistry). In conclusion, it is more useful and easy being specialized. But it is better for the world progress, those people who have a huge knowledge of different matters.