Edible Gardens and Culinary Kitchens as Dewey’s Experiential Education: Student Perceptions Through Self-Determination Theory

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: AI, Politics, Outdoor Learning, and Gardens: Where Is the Golden Dewey Thread? (Table 40)

Abstract

For Dewey, the school garden provided one means of creating authentic, engaging, and democratic education. The school garden did not serve merely as a place to grow flowers, but rather a laboratory where students experienced more academic concepts. This study builds upon Dewey’s vision of school gardens as places for authentic, engaging, and experiential education by asking, “To what extent do students perceive school garden and kitchen experiences as meaningful to their growth as capable, autonomous, and social citizens?” Student survey results (N=992) from four school’s featuring school gardens accompanying culinary kitchens suggest the applicability of Dewey’s vision to today’s education in developing competent, autonomous, and social students.

Authors

• Michael Szolowicz, California State University - Bakersfield

• John Stark, California State University - Bakersfield