“What’s Growing on Here?” Garden-Based Pedagogy in a Concrete Jungle

• In Event: The Many Spaces of Gardens

Abstract

This duoethnographic study considers experiences in a learning garden that is situated at a faculty of education in an urban center. The researchers use the garden as a site to create texts and meaning of the texts in response to the questions: how does the garden impact the community; and how does the garden impact us as environmental education researchers? By gathering and sharing of interactions in the garden and with community members, the researchers have elucidated three thematic dimensions of garden-based pedagogy: affective encounters; aesthetic values; and community building. By entering into preliminary dialogues about each dimension, they illuminate and unbind moments of resistance in the garden project, which can be understood through a critical pedagogy of place.

Authors

• Erin Sperling, University of Toronto - OISE

• Susan Jagger, Monmouth College

• Hilary J. Inwood, University of Toronto - OISE