Integrating Gardens Into Schools: Mapping Opportunities and Challenges Through Design

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Environmental Education Across the Disciplines

Abstract

School gardens impact student learning as well as local environments. Integrating gardens into schools and organizing learning with garden plots are opposite sides of the same coin; yet, they often remain separate, not complementary or interdependent processes. This manuscript employs case study methods to examine integrating gardens and organizing garden-based learning as a holistic design challenge. The proposal reviews enduring challenges and an evidence-based conceptual tool to frame both integration and organization in terms of design. The case then concentrates this tool on elementary school student-teacher experiences during project-based gardening. Analysis considers the following three themes in order to elaborate and refine the conceptual tool: relating content and context; aligning curricula and gardens; and designing for curiosity and wonder.

Authors

• Steven J. Zuiker, Arizona State University

• Amanda Riske, Arizona State University