Learning Gardens and Sustainability Education

Author: Dilafruz Williams
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136583505
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Book Description
Offering a fresh approach to bringing life to schools and schools to life, this book goes beyond touting the benefits of learning gardens to survey them as a whole-systems design solution with potential to address myriad interrelated social, ecological, and educational issues. The theoretical and conceptual framework presented creatively places soil at the center of the discourse on sustainability education and learning garden design and pedagogy. Seven elements and attributes of living soil and learning gardens are presented as a guide for sustainability education: cultivating a sense of place; fostering curiosity and wonder; discovering rhythm and scale; valuing biocultural diversity; embracing practical experience ; nurturing interconnectedness. The living soil of learning gardens forms the basis of a new metaphoric language serving to contest dominant mechanistic metaphors presently influencing educational discourse. Student voices and examples from urban schools provide practical understanding of how bringing life to schools can indeed bring schools to life.

The Learning Garden

Author: Veronica Gaylie
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9781433104701
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 234

Book Description
This book tells the story of building a campus «learning garden» over a series of cohorts of student teachers and environmental education students. The project began with high ideals, no funding, and a strong desire to do something about the environment: the result was a transformation in attitude toward nature, community and toward the learning process itself. Examining the process through three key metaphors - garden as environment, garden as community, garden as transformation - this book provides a bridge between theory and practice for ecology-centered teaching and learning.

Why Garden in Schools?

Author: Lexi Earl
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429553951
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 140

Book Description
This book delves into the complex history of the gardening movement in schools and examines the question why gardens should be built in schools. It offers practical guidance for teachers to begin thinking about how to approach educational gardening. A resurgence of interest in school gardens is linked to concerns about children’s health, food knowledge, lack of outdoor play and contact with the natural world. This book warns against simplistic one-best approaches and makes a case about the complexity of gardening in schools. It is the first critical attempt to address the complex and conflicting notions about school gardens and to tackle the question ‘what is the problem to which school gardens are the answer?’ Examining the educational theory in which gardening has been explained and advocated, the book explores the way contemporary gardens research has been conducted with specific questions such as ‘what works well in school gardens?’ Based on case studies of a school establishing a garden and another one maintaining a garden, chapters look at the way in which schools come to frame their gardens. The authors suggest that there are four issues to consider when setting up a school garden or evaluating a pre-existing one – wider social context, public policy, the whole school, and the formal and informal curriculum. The book ends with a call for consideration of the ways in which school gardens can be built, the myriad practices that constitute an educational garden space and the challenges of maintaining a school garden over the long term. It will be of interest to teachers in primary schools, as well as a key point of reference for scholars, academics and students researching school gardens.

Sustainable Gardens

Author: Rob Cross
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
ISBN: 0643099638
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
The third title in the CSIRO Gardening Guide series, Sustainable Gardens by Roger Spencer and Rob Cross shows how horticulture can contribute towards a more sustainable future. Written for home gardeners, professional horticulturists, landscapers, and all those passionate about cultivated landscapes, this book examines the steps we can take towards harmonising gardening activity with the cycles of nature. Two outstanding botanists from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, Roger and Rob have produced a genuine gardening bible for our times. They show how every gardener – both professional and amateur – can contribute positively to environmental stewardship. Gardens may be consumers of resources, but the negative effects of this consumption can be minimised and can be offset by some of the positive contributions gardens make. Roger and Rob explain the connections between human activity, resource depletion, and environmental degradation. They show how to conduct an audit of gardening practices, materials, and results so that every gardener can measure the impact he or she is having on nature. They show: how to minimise the impacts on nature of our consumption of water, materials and energy in the garden; how to make gardens more environmentally friendly through design, construction and maintenance phases; the importance of biodiversity and how horticulture can help protect natural systems; and the role that gardening can play in alleviating the environmental impacts of food production. Checklists are provided so that gardeners can ensure they are taking the most sustainable path through each phase of gardening – design, construction, maintenance. The book ends with a guide round an existing garden that combines physical beauty with sustainability, and discusses future trends for sustainable horticulture. In an increasingly urbanised world, parks and gardens are our main point of contact with nature. If we can maximise the environmental benefits of our gardens, public spaces and landscapes, we will make a huge contribution to sustainable living. This book if the first to show us how.

Soul Music from an Educator: Sustainability and Garden Education in Schools

Author: Theresa Francene Watson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781267947994
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
As a part of growing and strengthening response to environmental and sustainability education initiatives, schoolyard gardens have emerged across the nation and globe. Though the concept of schoolyard gardens has received widespread support and ignited the public imagination, it is increasingly evident that there is an emergent need for place-based teaching models that allow for equitable access and programmatic continuity of such learning spaces. Presently, in-service professional development opportunities remain scarce in this dynamic interdisciplinary area in curriculum and instruction.

Agrobiodiversity, School Gardens and Healthy Diets

Author: Danny Hunter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429620640
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 375

Book Description
This book critically assesses the role of agrobiodiversity in school gardens and its contribution to diversifying diets, promoting healthy eating habits and improving nutrition among schoolchildren as well as other benefits relating to climate change adaptation, ecoliteracy and greening school spaces. Many schoolchildren suffer from various forms of malnutrition and it is important to address their nutritional status given the effects it has on their health, cognition, and subsequently their educational achievement. Schools are recognized as excellent platforms for promoting lifelong healthy eating and improving long-term, sustainable nutrition security required for optimum educational outcomes. This book reveals the multiple benefits of school gardens for improving nutrition and education for children and their families. It examines issues such as school feeding, community food production, school gardening, nutritional education and the promotion of agrobiodiversity, and draws on international case studies, from both developed and developing nations, to provide a comprehensive global assessment. This book will be essential reading for those interested in promoting agrobiodiversity, sustainable nutrition and healthy eating habits in schools and public institutions more generally. It identifies recurring and emerging issues, establishes best practices, identifies key criteria for success and advises on strategies for scaling up and scaling out elements to improve the uptake of school gardens.

The School Garden Curriculum

Author: Kaci Rae Christopher
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1771422947
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 570

Book Description
Sow the seeds of science and wonder and inspire the next generation of Earth stewards The School Garden Curriculum offers a unique and comprehensive framework, enabling students to grow their knowledge throughout the school year and build on it from kindergarten to eighth grade. From seasonal garden activities to inquiry projects and science-skill building, children will develop organic gardening solutions, a positive land ethic, systems thinking, and instincts for ecological stewardship. The world needs young people to grow into strong, scientifically literate environmental stewards. Learning gardens are great places to build this knowledge, yet until now there has been a lack of a multi-grade curriculum for school-wide teaching aimed at fostering a connection with the Earth. The book offers: A complete K-8 school-wide framework Over 200 engaging, weekly lesson plans – ready to share Place-based activities, immersive learning, and hands-on activities Integration of science, critical thinking, permaculture, and life skills Links to Next Generation Science Standards Further resources and information sources. A model and guide for all educators, The School Garden Curriculum is the complete package for any school wishing to use ecosystem perspectives, science, and permaculture to connect children to positive land ethics, personal responsibility, and wonder, while building vital lifelong skills. AWARDS FINALIST | 2019 Foreword INDIES: Education

Smart by Nature

Author: Michael K. Stone
Publisher: Contemporary Issues (Watershed
ISBN: 9780970950048
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
"Describes strategies for greening the campus and the curriculum, conducting environmental audits, rethinking school food, and transforming schools into models of sustainable community"-- P. [4] of cover.

Evaluation of Urban Learning Garden Education and the Impact on Sustainability

Author: Angelica Maria Huerta
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 114

Book Description
Abstract: Urban learning gardens (ULGs) are a type of urban agriculture where the priority is education over food and fiber production. The prevalence of ULGs, including the emergence in higher education, arises often as sustainability-driven projects aimed at improving ecological, economic and social issues. However, education's measurement and contribution to garden sustainability has remained largely qualitative. Using a university ULG established in 2012 as a case study, emergy analysis measured education and its impact on garden sustainability. The sustain process from the Information Cycle (Odum, 1996) produced a garden-based education transformity of 1.71E8 sej/J. An extracurricular transformity was also calculated, 4.80E7 sej/J, representing public education. Incorporating education into the emergy analysis resulted in mixed results. Emergy indices for year one, which included the design and construction materials, was negatively affected by the addition of education from instructional materials and the 90% non-renewable fraction of US labor. The environmental loading ratio increased from 9.45 to 12.3; the emergy yield ratio remained constant at 1.11; and the emergy sustainability index decreased from 0.12 to 0.09. Over time, though, the 10% renewable fraction of US labor improved garden sustainability with the normalization of design and construction materials. A five-year projected emergy sustainability index improved from 0.09 to 0.10 and the environmental loading ratio decreased from 12.31 to 11.1. The emergy yield ratio decreased from 1.11 to 1.09. Human services from labor, a garden coordinator and education feedback are responsible for the variability in results. The 10% renewable fraction increases system renewability over five years but productivity is largely reliant on low concentrated energies from the biosphere. Overall, results from this study recommend ULGs judicially use instructional materials, specifically paper, while maximizing attendance and workshop frequency. Education improves garden yield when measured with the Information Cycle but education's benefit to sustainability requires patience because of the large non-renewable fraction originating from human services.

Seedfolks

Author: Paul Fleischman
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062283685
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 114

Book Description
ALA Best Book for Young Adults ∙ School Library Journal Best Book ∙ Publishers Weekly Best Book ∙ IRA/CBC Children's Choice ∙ NCTE Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts A Vietnamese girl plants six lima beans in a Cleveland vacant lot. Looking down on the immigrant-filled neighborhood, a Romanian woman watches suspiciously. A school janitor gets involved, then a Guatemalan family. Then muscle-bound Curtis, trying to win back Lateesha. Pregnant Maricela. Amir from India. A sense of community sprouts and spreads. Newbery-winning author Paul Fleischman uses thirteen speakers to bring to life a community garden's founding and first year. The book's short length, diverse cast, and suitability for adults as well as children have led it to be used in countless one-book reads in schools and in cities across the country. Seedfolks has been drawn upon to teach tolerance, read in ESL classes, promoted by urban gardeners, and performed in schools and on stages from South Africa to Broadway. The book's many tributaries—from the author's immigrant grandfather to his adoption of two brothers from Mexico—are detailed in his forthcoming memoir, No Map, Great Trip: A Young Writer's Road to Page One. "The size of this slim volume belies the profound message of hope it contains." —Christian Science Monitor And don’t miss Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, the Newbery Medal-winning poetry collection!