Gaining Ground
Dyment, Janet (2005).
Canada: Evergreen; 52 pages. $free. ISBN 0973212497.
In light of my own experience with school gardens in three different countries, I can state that this study appears to have relevance to any school or district embarking on or already engaged in school naturalization projects. The research incorporated schools with diverse socio-economic status and multicultural populations. The findings remained consistent across this diverse mix of schools. They include:
- The outdoor learning environment energized and inspired the teachers who used school naturalization or gardening projects for meeting curriculum goals.
- Students showed more positive social behavior while playing and learning in “green” environments, which also translated into greater environmental awareness and stewardship.
- The diverse play environments created by greening projects offered more creative and safer play spaces, and more social inclusion that engaged a broader range of students than traditional types of playgrounds.
The recommendations coming from this study have broad implications for school districts beyond Toronto and Ontario. The benefits and challenges can be extrapolated to many educational settings. Gaining Ground recommends high level support of school greening through school boards and teacher education institutions in order that schools have these diverse environments as a matter of policy and teachers are trained in how to make use of the school grounds as outdoor classrooms. Further, greening projects should be funded at the school board level to ensure comprehensive master plans, long-term maintenance, and ongoing professional development for teachers. Equal access to these enriched school outdoor environments in poorer neighborhoods, where it may be more difficult for parents and staff to raise funds, depends on greening projects being embraced by the school boards as important for every school regardless of student socio-economic status.
The data for this report came from questionnaires distributed to four populations at schools with greening projects: principals, teachers involved in the greening project, teachers NOT involved in the project, and parents involved in the project. The follow-up interviews happened at only five schools, chosen to represent a diverse range of socio-economic statuses. It would have been interesting to see survey results from students, but this was not part of the study.
00 percent of respondents reported that compared to indoor settings, outdoor classes increased student enthusiasm for learning. Additionally, the increased bio-diversity on school grounds enabled children to undertake science studies that in the past had only been possible on field trips. Further, teachers noted that art classes were much enriched by school gardens, as they gave students a wide array of natural life to sketch and observe.
77 percent of respondents stated that student ability to think creatively had increased due to outdoor learning on green school grounds. The interconnections between various disciplines was cited as a natural result of learning in natural habitats where students can observe specific populations of organisms in relation to each other, such as a bee pollinating a flower, or a worm at work in the compost. One teacher noted the difference in time awareness: “In the garden, though, time flows naturally so they learn naturally…they are not rushed. Learning just happens” (p. 22).
A teacher and principal both commented on the fact that outdoor learning environments engage children kinesthetically offering students with that kind of orientation to learning a chance to shine. Another teacher noted “I see a real strong caring attitude towards what is happening” (p.24).
One of the ongoing questions at schools with greening projects is why some teachers use the gardens often with their students and some teachers never do. Most schools reported less than 10 percent of teachers use the school grounds for curricular purposes. All the schools with follow-up interviews indicated that “more teaching could and should be done in the outdoor classroom” (p. 17). However, teachers expressed frustration at the huge curriculum they were already expected to teach in the school year, and requested curriculum guides that would link outdoor lessons to the required curriculum. Many curriculum guides do exist for outdoor learning, but since each country, state or province, and county may have its own unique curricular goals, it is necessary to link existing outdoor curricula with individual district requirements.
In addition, the guiding force of the school principal was often mentioned as necessary for the development and expanded use of school grounds. Further, greening programs need the support of the school district through a philosophy of education that encompasses naturalized school ground learning.
With the combination of data from the survey and comments of teachers, principals and parents, Gaining Ground offers powerful insights that should prove useful to others working in the growing international educational movement to create natural habitats and food gardens on school grounds.
The monograph’s conclusions clearly present the positive outcomes and the challenges of greening projects. The excellent reference section at the end of the research report offers a very good overview of the literature in this field to support further inquiry. Gaining Ground joins Evergreen’s library of publications that offers curriculum, research and “How-tos” for school districts, individual educators and parents who are interested in greening the environments children inhabit at school and in the broader community. Evergreen is a Canadian national not-for-profit organization dedicated to urban greening with native plants to provide natural habitats for a wide range of life forms, including children.
Reviewer Information
Illčne Pevec did her Master of Arts studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver where she initiated a participatory action research project to develop a series of gardens and public arts projects at an inner-city elementary school including the development of a community health program based in the garden. In 2001 she began an environmental education and community development project in Santo Ângelo, RS, Brazil, called A Child’s Garden of Peace. The documentary film on that project, A Child’s Garden of Peace: Seeding the Future has begun making the circuit of international film festivals. She currently is a Ph.D. student in Design and Planning at the University of Colorado, Denver with a specific interest in the environmental needs of children.