Garden-Based Learning

Topic:

Sustainability, ecosystem, microorganisms, the needs of a plant, classification of organisms, pollination, interactions between plants, water management, food production, sustainable nutrition

Duration:

1+ lesson

Learning objectives:

Students gain more positive attitudes about environmental topics, and their environmental awareness increases after participating in garden-based learning.

Description of the learning process and activities:

In garden-based learning the garden, or at least the plants in the school or nearby area, is the foundation for students' experiential learning. It gives active, engaging, real-world experiences for students in an informal outside learning environment. It is ideal if learning takes place in the garden and back to the classroom, and vice versa.

Here are some activity examples that could be used in garden-based learning:
- Creating a garden for observation and discovery: students observe the growth or decay activity
- Building rain gauges: this can be incorporated into math lessons to learn more about measurements
- Recycling of waste: students learn composting and waste reduction 
- Testing a soil
- Building a bird or a bee house, and observing 
- Writing a garden journal
- Observing and learning about garden pests with magnifying glasses

More information:

https://otter-project.eu/news/18/5-questions-with-marcia-eugenio?utm_campaign=OTRNL&utm_source=OTRNL20230314&utm_medium=e-mail&utm_contact=711496

Other remarks:

Reference: Professor Marcia Eugenio Gonzalbo from the University of Valladolid, specialized on Didactics of Experimental Sciences, Social Sciences & Mathematics