Introduction
School gardens provide a unique educational opportunity, enabling students to develop a wide range of skills in an engaging and hands-on environment. By incorporating environmental and scientific education, these spaces foster an understanding of ecological principles and awareness of sustainability.
A school garden is not just a place for cultivation but a dynamic learning environment where students engage in experiential education. Guided by teachers, they actively participate in planting, caring for plants, and harvesting, gaining practical knowledge about ecology and sustainable agriculture.
Beyond educational benefits, school gardens contribute to students’ well-being by encouraging outdoor activity and reducing stress. They also promote teamwork, responsibility, and critical thinking, creating a stimulating and collaborative learning setting.
This module will explore the educational objectives of school gardens, their benefits for the wider community, and the most effective teaching methodologies to integrate them into the learning process.
Lessons
L1. Skills and benefits of a garden education
The cultivation of a school garden represents a unique educational opportunity to develop a variety of transversal skills, both in formal and non-formal settings, involving environmental, socio-cultural and economic aspects of Sustainable Development Education, Environmental Education and Science Education.
Educational gardens are an invaluable resource for educational institutions, offering students the opportunity to learn in a practical, engaging and sustainable way. These green spaces, located in or near school facilities, are designed to engage students in growing plants and understanding the basic principles of ecology.
Educational gardens are specifically dedicated to the cultivation of plants in a school environment. Generally divided into small plots or flower beds, students actively participate in planting, caring for the plants and harvesting the produce. These gardens can be set up either outdoors or in containers such as pots or crates, depending on the resources and space available.
Teaching gardens provide a hands-on environment where students can experience the biological processes of plant growth, observe how the environment affects cultivation and acquire practical skills such as irrigation, fertilisation and plant species recognition. Teachers guide students through educational activities that integrate scientific, mathematical and environmental topics, linking practical experience with school learning topics.
Educational gardens offer a wide range of benefits for students, schools and the community. First and foremost, they promote experiential learning by engaging students in hands-on activities that stimulate their curiosity and creativity. Through active involvement, students develop problem-solving skills, critical thinking and personal responsibility.
In addition, educational gardens are effective tools for environmental education. Students learn to appreciate and respect nature, becoming more aware of biological cycles, the importance of biodiversity and the sustainable management of natural resources. These experiences contribute to forming aware and responsible citizens with an ecological conscience.
School gardens not only offer educational benefits, but also have positive impacts on the health and well-being of students. Contact with nature encourages physical activity and reduces stress.
One of the main challenges that contemporary society poses to pedagogical reflection and educational practice is the sustainability of a development inspired by a short-sighted and short-sighted vision of the present. Environmental sustainability and the ecological impact of economic development are sensitive issues, the subject of numerous international documents that place the protection of the natural environment as a central issue, demanding responsible behaviour to safeguard the planet. This calls for pedagogical reflection to develop educational models inspired by the environmental dimension and the relationship with it. The natural environment, long regarded as a no man’s land, must now be seen as a relational and ecological system, requiring an integrated educational model centred on the continuity between man and the environment.
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Educating in ecological thinking is crucial today, guiding students to understand the interconnections between living beings and their environment, encouraging them to see the world in terms of interconnected networks and systems, rather than as isolated elements. This approach is crucial in the younger generation, described as Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD), which highlights the negative effects of the lack of interaction with nature on the well-being of children and young people. Richard Louv, author of the book Last Child in the Woods (2008), coined this term to highlight how reduced exposure to nature can contribute to physical and mental health problems as well as negative environmental impacts. Running a school garden offers an antidote to this phenomenon, providing children with an opportunity to connect with nature, improve their mental and physical health and develop a greater appreciation for the natural environment.
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The presence of an urban community garden in the school grounds or a teaching garden within the school represents a great opportunity to address the educational objectives posed by the challenges of environmental and sustainability education with innovative and high-impact tools. The literature has explored environmental issues from an educational perspective, redefining educational spaces. Initiatives such as schools in the woods, the outdoor education strand and learning gardens have promoted a renewed look at the relationship between educational processes and educational spaces. All educational initiatives based on the direct human-nature relationship are united by the principle that conducting educational activities outdoors positively affects the motivation, attention and sense of autonomy of students; it allows the development of generative competences, soliciting questions and doubts and fostering an interaction between formal languages and educational practices.
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Teaching gardens offer significant benefits and unique learning spaces. They facilitate the connection between practical learning and theoretical knowledge, allowing students to see the notions learned in the classroom applied. They also improve attention and concentration, as manual and outdoor activities stimulate interest and active participation. The garden contributes to the growth of self-esteem and a sense of achievement, as children see the concrete results of their work. It promotes the development of social and interpersonal skills, teaching children to work in groups and to take turns. Finally, the garden allows for the deepening of environmental awareness and social responsibility, raising children’s awareness of the importance of sustainability and respect for nature.
Soft skills, or soft skills, include a range of interpersonal and behavioural skills that facilitate effective collaboration and communication. According to an article by Washington State University (2023), these skills include the ability to work in a team, solve problems and communicate effectively. These skills are crucial in any work environment and are highly valued by employers. Managing a school garden offers an ideal context for developing these skills in a practical and engaging way, through activities that require cooperation, planning and time management.
A school garden develops the ability to cooperate and work as a team, which is essential for successful collective activities. Co-operation is a fundamental skill, as emphasised by MIT Sloan (2018), as it allows complex problems to be tackled and solved through collaboration. In educational contexts, working together to achieve a common goal, such as tending a vegetable garden, teaches children the importance of mutual respect, effective communication and shared responsibility.
Problem solving and decision making skills are crucial for handling complex situations and finding effective solutions. According to MIT Sloan (2018), these skills are indispensable for dealing with problems in a structured way and making informed decisions. In a school garden, students are often called upon to solve practical problems, such as dealing with pests or choosing the most suitable plants for the local climatic conditions. This type of practical activity helps develop critical and analytical thinking skills as well as self-confidence in decision-making.
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Starting in the 19th century, pedagogy began to focus on the design of early childhood educational institutions. The first such establishments were created during the Second Industrial Revolution, initially to provide care for poor children, later, in countries such as France, Germany and England, as kindergartens and nursery schools, evolving into today’s Kindergartens. The term ‘garden’ originates from the German concept of the ‘Kindergarten’, a school conceived in 1839 by Friedrich Fröbel, who imagined the institution as a garden in which the children-plants grow under the attentive care of the teacher-gardener, who educates them while respecting their freedom, limiting herself to protection and supervision without imposing rigid models (Fröbel, 1871).
Play was considered the fundamental activity, seen philosophically as a synthesis of aesthetic intuition and creativity, essential elements of the human being, to be protected and developed from childhood. Fröbel believed that real cultivation was an effective means of initiating children into work, socialisation, stimulating their powers of observation and bringing them into contact with nature. Like the metaphor of the garden, these ideas still retain significant educational relevance today: “Life in the cities distances us from the natural elements, even those closest to us, on our own territory; this is perhaps why we long to go to the seaside or the mountains, in search of those natural elements that we lack. In parks and gardens we find a state of mind, a special feeling: we cannot help but feel more relaxed, more serene, as if we were returning home after a long journey” (Gambini, 2007).
More and more pre-school teachers are creating school gardens and vegetable gardens: if caring for children means creating diverse educational situations to stimulate the development of their abilities, the garden represents an ideal space, especially for children living in cities or in places with scarce green space. The learning objectives in a garden are numerous and achievable through different activities, which poses design challenges for teachers. The aim of this work is twofold: on the one hand, to propose an example of an educational path developed with a real kindergarten class, useful for embarking on a vegetable garden project; on the other, to study children’s learning, keeping education as the primary objective. To subsequently assess the validity of the proposed activities, it will be necessary to examine the main learning theories.
Lesson Quiz
L2. Educational methodologies and tools in the garden- 36568
There are many types of learning, all dependent on the pedagogical context. People of all ages learn in different contexts, such as youth clubs, at school, in the family, in informal gatherings, at university, from everyday experience, in summer camps, at work, etc.
All these learning contexts are part of different educational concepts that are fundamental to better understand and contextualise the pedagogical approach possible in an urban community garden. The elaborated model aims to propose a holistic and integrated mode between formal, non-formal and even digital education, using outdoor education methodologies.
Education is a gradual process that brings about positive changes in human life and behaviour. We can also define education as ‘a process of acquiring knowledge through the study or transmission of knowledge by means of instruction or other practical procedures’.
Education goes beyond what happens within the four walls of a classroom. A child obtains education from his or her experiences outside school. There are three main types of education, namely, Formal, Informal and Non-formal. Each of these types is discussed below. Formal, non-formal and informal education are complementary and mutually reinforcing elements of a life-long learning process.
In the school gardens, there are different educational methodologies that can be applied depending on the educational objectives that the teacher, youth worker or educator wishes to follow.
The term methodologies refers to the general principles, pedagogy and management strategies used in formal, non-formal and informal education. The choice of methodologies depends on what fits the learning objectives, curricula, needs and abilities of the learners, etc. There are many methodologies and here we would like to indicate some of the main ones that underlie the development of the proposal possible in a community or school-based urban garden.
Outdoor training is based on the real and concrete experience of learning by doing, with practical exercises to be carried out in open spaces, in contact with the environment and nature, in places physically and conceptually distant from habitual experiences. It utilises the typical training and experiential learning process in a continuous cycle of experience, reflection/conceptualisation and transfer, allowing for improvement and/or development of organisational behaviour.
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In outdoor training, participants are called upon to get involved, to step out of their comfort zone and out of the habitual patterns they find themselves in: the team or individual is brought into a different context, outdoors, facing small or big challenges capable of developing unexpected skills. Personal growth is active in experiencing new contexts and situations, overcoming habitual behaviours and habits that often hide unused skills and attitudes.
Outdoor training allows one to act, through practical and physical activities, on several levels of the human sphere, simultaneously pushing the cognitive, emotional and physical components, accelerating the learning process. It is able to fix learning by anchoring it to ‘evocative’ experiences, the memory of which persists over time, through the successful or unsuccessful experimentation of certain individual and collective behaviours in real situations.
The effectiveness of the methodology is based on the fact that the experience is never generic, but specific, based on the real needs of the group and consistent with the identified objectives. It can never and must never be ‘the same for everyone’, but is developed and created according to the objectives to be achieved. Thanks to practical exercises, participants are led to rely on their personal resources, also activating group relationship dynamics for the achievement of individual and common goals, thus accelerating the normal acquisition process. The stimuli they are subjected to and the absence of a teacher proposing ‘expert’ solutions encourage the group’s capacity for self-learning. The educator, in fact, in open-air training is considered a facilitator of learning, or helps people develop new patterns of behaviour and action from their experiences and reflections.
Being a street educator means playing a very delicate role, it means putting yourself on the line to the full accepting the challenge of the relationship, giving and receiving trust by playing outside the home. Being a street educator means knowing how to be in the times of the person in front of you, without giving in or giving up educating, even when you do not want to. Being a street educator means “being there”.
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A street education worker has essential characteristics and experience to establish a relationship based on a horizontal approach in a short period of time, even if only for a few minutes. He/she develops the ability to act in a non-existing relational context, interfacing with actors playing different roles (young person, family, friends of the young person).
The main objective is to improve the condition of individual adolescents and prevent distress by acting on situations recognised as being at risk. To do this, it is essential to move from pure prevention strategies to strategies to promote intentionally oriented positive growth processes.
Certainly, the role of the educator is not simple, quite the contrary. It requires a strong empathic ability, to let oneself go through the other’s emotions without being overwhelmed. It requires a lot of passion and motivation. It requires a strong conviction that one can “be for the Other”. It requires humility and a sense of reality, also to understand that the young person in front of you is first and foremost a person, who can choose as such.
Digital education is the innovative use of digital tools and technologies during teaching and learning, and is often referred to as Technology for Advanced Learning (TEL) or e-Learning.
Digital competence – or digital literacy – is fundamental in contemporary social digitisation and should be promoted at all educational levels. It involves the ability to use digital technology to foster informed civic participation in multiple dimensions, sustainability being one of these dimensions. The need for digital skills is central to shaping the participation of individuals of different social conditions, age, gender and even disability in this society. In the teaching-learning process throughout the education system, there is a lack of digital competences, which is an obstacle to learning and achieving these same competences based on the use of technology and e-learning and is, potentially, a critical element in reducing the digital divide.
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School culture will have to change more rapidly on the path towards promoting education that, by mobilising digital skills not only as consumers but also as content creators, adopts student-centred learning in a participatory research-action logic.
Digital literacy itself is fundamental as a competence to mobilise skills in the selection, apprehension and use of information arriving digitally via the Internet. However, inequalities exist with regard to a virtual digital-based school.
Exploring the use of digital technologies offers educators the opportunity to design engaging learning opportunities into the courses they teach, and these can take the form of blended or fully online courses and programmes. It is very important to develop digital culture and skills before investing in digital infrastructure and technologies. Digital education focuses on providing digital skills to different cohorts of students and teachers.
The focus on Digital Education is thus gradually beginning to shift from the technological issue to the methodological issue. Recent research and experiments on digital competences begin to consider digital as a method of teaching and learning, capable of improving transversal competences, such as those linked to both self-expression and the ability to relate and communicate with others from the point of view of sharing multimedia contents and digital educational experiences, addressed within work groups. In any case, the potential of the digital tool for the development of learning is certainly conditioned by the educational approach and the teacher’s ability to grasp the type of relationship between technology and student within a situated context.
From the point of view of the development of children’s learning, based on Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories, it is hypothesised that media experience conditions the development of not only digital, but also transversal competences, which are projected onto the processes of representation, interpretation and participation in the surrounding reality. At present we do not know precisely the nature and type of cognitive and emotional orientation underlying this relationship, but we can perceive the presence of reciprocal conditioning from early childhood, when the first contacts with digital media are established.
Certainly, the educational and family socialisation model derives from technological conditioning both in terms of access and infrastructural availability, as well as media style and level of acquired competence. These variables construct behavioural profiles of cultural mediation to the medium that not only orient children’s digital behaviour, but also influence their social identity projection and the spontaneous development of their brain structure, also with respect to media stimulation.
Global Education is a pedagogical approach that fosters multiple perspectives and the deconstruction of stereotypes and is based on a learner-centred approach to promote critical awareness of global challenges and commitment to sustainable lifestyles. Global Education competences are based on development education, human rights education, sustainability education, peace and conflict prevention education and intercultural education, all global dimensions of citizenship education.
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Community education is a sustainable process in the community, built with awareness and sustained participation, in an attempt to build a new understanding and concept to improve the quality of life of the community itself. Community education is now moving towards building and developing societies with the same approach that has been used for centuries for the prosperity of society. With the right theoretical framework, the right approach and the right programme implementation models, community education can grow and develop into a powerhouse in education to build a better Indonesian society. Critical pedagogical theory and other theories are the main basis in the development of concepts and subsequent thinking related to community education.
Lesson Quiz
L3. Steps for a school garden project - 5357
The vegetable garden, as already mentioned, offers numerous cues for activities in different areas and disciplines. The child is placed in an environment that, although not natural, is constructed by him or her according to natural cycles and rhythms. The garden thus becomes a laboratory where the child can experiment, learn and make choices for himself, taking nature into account.
Before beginning the planning of a vegetable garden, the teacher must consider several technical aspects: the choice of the location for the garden, the plants to be grown, the sowing period, the necessary care and possible technical problems. In addition, it is essential to plan which activities to carry out with the children, considering the different developmental stages and age groups.
To this end, it is important that the teacher gathers and organises his or her knowledge to support the different learning directions that may emerge from the class group. Currently, as mentioned in the context of Education for Sustainable Development, the creation of a vegetable garden reflects the growing sensitivity of citizens to environmental issues, prompting many to create small private gardens where fruit, vegetables and other plants are grown using natural methods.
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Managing a vegetable garden requires various operations, some sporadic, others cyclical, following a precise seasonal calendar. Among the most important operations are:
- Levelling: eliminates sinkholes or unevenness in cultivation areas.
- Digging: turning the entire crop surface to a depth of fifteen to thirty centimetres, in order to expose the soil to air and moisture, also carrying out annual fertilisation.
- Scarifying: hoeing the soil without turning it over, to aerate overly compacted soils, increase drainage and improve fertiliser penetration.
- Raking: before sowing, to break up the coarsest clods and level the surface layer, bringing the soil to a homogeneous level.
- Weeding: elimination of weeds with a superficial root system.
The tools used include:
- The hoe: this is used to loosen and break up the soil, destroy weeds, tamp plants and is very useful for cutting tree roots.
- The transplant shovel: a small shovel with curved edges, used for planting plants and extracting clods from the soil.
- The planter: used for transplanting young plants, it consists of a conical tip reinforced with metal to produce holes in the soil where the roots of the young plants can be placed.
- The bulb-plant: this is used to bury the bulbs.
- The string: used to obtain straight rows and even distances between seedlings.
- The seed drill: used to sow seeds while avoiding waste.
- Irrigation tools: watering can, watering can for greenhouses and pots, and other irrigation systems.
This quick overview highlights a central theme: to create a teaching garden, decisions must be made and a well-structured teaching project developed. The project phases are designed to guide teachers and students through a process that combines didactic, workshop and collaborative activities aimed at achieving the set pedagogical objectives. Each phase is designed to progressively build knowledge and skills, fostering active and participative learning.
Community gardens are a unique opportunity to improve people’s mental and physical health through connection with nature and outdoor activity. Many gardens offer dedicated programmes, such as:
- Common Ground NI: nature-based therapies.
- Badgers Brook Allotment (South Wales): inclusive activities for the community.
A notable example is Martineau Gardens in Birmingham (UK), which uses social and therapeutic horticulture to support the mental health of participants. More information atthe link More information here.
Community gardens contribute significantly to biodiversity, often including areas of wildflowers or acting as green corridors for urban wildlife. An emblematic example is Scotswood Garden in Newcastle, where the focus on biodiversity is central. Find out more in the SF&G fact sheet.
Community gardens promote social cohesion by bringing together people from different backgrounds. During the pandemic, they played a crucial role as spaces for meeting and community support. Examples of initiatives include:
- Grow Northern Ireland
- Winchburgh Community Growing Group (Scotland)
- Rainbow Grow Hackney
Collaborations with food banks and other local organisations have strengthened community resilience.
Community gardens are multifunctional educational resources, useful for children and adults, combining formal and informal learning. They offer opportunities to acquire specific skills (e.g. horticulture, sustainability) and life skills (e.g. teamwork, leadership).
Gardens are practical learning spaces for:
- Maths, science, language, health and social studies.
- Discussions on sustainability and social justice.
Some activities include:
- Planting to inspire curiosity: for example, growing strawberries or trees.
- Planning for growth: landscape exploration and interaction with the natural environment.
- Growing and preparing food: preparing salads, soups, juices and multicultural dishes.
- Wildlife exploration: observing habitats, pollinators, ponds and small animals.
- Creating natural products: making balms, soaps and cosmetics with natural ingredients.
- Seed farming: teaching responsibility, sustainability and motor skills.
Community gardens can enrich school learning and create intergenerational connections. Examples of positive impacts include:
- Parental involvement and networking between schools and communities.
- Increased awareness of food origin and healthy eating.
- Curricular links with hands-on outdoor experiences.
Examples of collaborations between schools and gardens:
- The Garden Classroom
- Oasis School Grounds Programme
- Growing for All
