Forest gardens have the potential to connect children emotionally and cognitively to other organismsThe focus of this study was on how children reason with respect to different organisms’ dependence on and relations to each other, including themselves. Also investigated were the values of nature expressed by children who participated in developing a forest garden in Sweden.
A forest garden, as used in the context of this study, is an edible landscape with different layers of mostly perennial vegetation designed to resemble a multi-layered forest edge. The forest garden used as the site of this study is a part of a project entitled Bärfis (translated into English as ‘Stinkbug’), which provides opportunities for children to visit and participate in the development of a model forest garden under the guidance of forest garden pedagogues (educators).
Twenty-seven primary school students (ages seven to eight years old) who were a part of the Stinkbug project participated in this study. The catchment area of the school from which the children were recruited has one of the lowest average income levels in the region and high unemployment. About half of the residents in that area were born outside Sweden.
The participants were divided into groups, with each group working on a specific mini-project within the larger forest garden project. The mini-projects consisted of (1) the butterfly bed designed to support pollinating insects, (2) the stone wall designed to enhance the growth of plants that need heat and to create micro-environments for hibernating insects, and (3) the dry meadow designed to host plants adapted to low-nutrient soils and dry conditions. In addition to these mini-projects, the children also had the option of participating in a variety of other activities, including picking berries, making jam, and cutting wood.
The data collection process – which included field notes, audio and video recordings, group interviews, and photos -- was designed to capture what was spontaneously expressed by the children during their time in the forest garden and to investigate their reflections on their experiences after their visits to the garden. Observations of the children at the forest garden were made over a two-day period and focused on the children’s actions, their priorities, spontaneous talk, emotional expressions, and the children’s communication with the educators.
Focus group interviews were conducted three months after the children’s third visit to the forest garden. The assignment of children to the focus groups was identical to their assignments for the mini-projects. Photos from the activities were used during the interviews to stimulate recall of the activities. The same photos were used for all four focus groups. Although each group of children was mainly involved in one of the mini-projects, all the children were familiar with the other projects as well, as they were working in close proximity to each other. Questions posed during the interviews related to what the children were doing in each of the photos and their perceptions of the purpose of the activities.
Children’s responses indicated an almost exclusively unidirectional perspective regarding the relationship between themselves and the organisms in the garden; that is, they saw themselves in relation to what they could do for the organisms (such as provide habitat) versus what the organisms could do for them (such as pollinate plants). This perspective, along with the children’s willingness to help other organisms, reflect humanistic values.
Other nature-related values exhibited by the children include naturalistic, aesthetic, and scientific. Nature-related values mostly absent from children’s behaviors and responses include utilitarian, moralistic, dominionistic and negativistic.
According to the researchers, this study shows that forest gardens have the potential to connect children emotionally and cognitively to other organisms.
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