Garden-based learning may promote positive emotions and cooperative behavior

Research on the benefits of school gardens tend to focus on academic and/or social-emotional goals.  This study is based on the understanding that the two goals are connected – that is, that emotions and social competence play a role in academic learning. The specific aim of the study was to examine the extent to which biology lessons in school gardens can impact the development of social and emotional behaviors.

This study was conducted in Germany with five classes of sixth graders participating over a 10-week period. During this time, the location of the students' science class changed weekly between the school garden and the classroom. Teachers in the garden setting assumed the social role of advisor and timekeeper. They assumed their normal role in the classroom. While all lessons followed a normal science curriculum focusing on the topic of “soil and plants,” lessons in the garden were also based on Self Determination Theory and designed around the basic needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. In the garden, each pupil was responsible for their own plant as well as a group bed to which they were assigned. This arrangement required both individual and group responsibility. Researchers used both self-report measures and standardized observations to collect information about the students' socially competent behavior and their emotions in both the garden and classroom settings. The self-report measure asked students to complete a weekly survey about their emotions during the lessons. The structured observations focused on the students' socially competent (prosocial) behavior of communication and cooperation. Over 150 observations by seven trained observers were conducted over the ten-week period – 82 in the garden; 68 in the classroom.

Of the ten emotions assessed, three -- happiness, pride, surprise/wonder -- were reported significantly more often in the garden than in the classroom; two -- disgust, fear/anxiety -- significantly more often in the classroom than in the garden. Additionally, the positive emotions in the school garden were often perceived with high intensity, whereas the negative emotions were not. The intensity of emotions in the classroom were generally low. The observational data indicated that students showed more socially competent behavior in the school garden than in the classroom. While this was evident in both communication and cooperation, cooperative behavior in the garden setting was “particularly significant” when compared with behavior in the classroom.

This research suggests that “school garden lessons, designed according to the basic needs, seem to create favorable incentives for social learning.” This research also suggests that garden-based learning activities can promote emotional and social competence.