Research and practice suggest that school gardens provide an important opportunity for environmental education in K–12 school contexts, have many benefits for student development and learning, and can support science, social studies, and mathematics, among other subjects. Yet, school gardens can also be difficult and costly to maintain, as the success of school gardens depends largely on the support of teachers and their ability to incorporate the garden into their teaching practice. Thus, this research considered the rationale behind teachers' choices to regularly use school gardens, despite challenges they might face. The research builds on previous case studies that looked at factors influencing decisions to use school gardens for teaching.
The research took place at a school located in a suburban town in the Midwestern United States. The school had maintained gardens on site for approximately 10 years and ran workshops for groups interested in starting school garden programs at other sites. The school gardens were run by coordinators who wrote lessons for use in the gardens; these lessons were connected with state science standards. The coordinators partnered with the teachers to ensure successful use of the gardens. Within the school, two second-grade teachers and one fourth-grade teacher participated in the study. These teachers were all regular users of the garden and taught a variety of subjects.
The teachers each participated in two in-depth interviews. In the first interview, each teacher shared stories about his or her relationship with the outdoors, particularly as it related to family and education. In the second interview, the teachers built on these stories by describing their teaching experiences in the school gardens and their process for establishing the gardens as a regular facet of their practice. The researchers analyzed these interviews, looking for common themes and substories.
Common to all three teachers were themes of environmental memories, observation of children's behavior, and beliefs about teaching and learning. Additionally, nostalgia was identified in each of the teachers' narratives. The researcher states that nostalgia and the three themes acted as internal incentives for using the school garden, and these internal incentives were translated into actual use of the gardens by the presence of garden coordinators and standards-based curriculum. All three of the teachers described a great deal of time spent outdoors during their childhood. They used this as a foundation for their desire to facilitate outdoor experiences for their students. The teachers also used these memories to contrast against their observations of children, either their students or their offspring. The teachers described children today as being increasingly dependent on technology, at the cost of attention span, creativity, and imagination. Nostalgia played into these themes when the teachers compared their own impressions of modern childhood with memories from their upbringings. The greater the perceived distance between their own experiences and modern-day experiences, the easier it was for the teachers to rationalize the use of school gardens. Lastly, the teachers recognized the gardens as supporting their beliefs about teaching and learning. The three teachers talked about the garden's ability to facilitate hands-on and experiential learning, which they all considered to be important practices.
These findings are important for environmental education practitioners, especially those who collaborate with teachers in settings that include school gardens. Understanding the reasons and rationale behind the teachers' use of the school gardens can help environmental educators empathize with the connection—or disconnection—that they may observe. Particularly, recognizing the role of nostalgia is critical in developing this empathy. Nostalgia connects strongly with school gardens, allowing teachers to share with their students a value that they hold from their own life experiences. This relationship with the past can be seen throughout environmental education and serves to connect K–12 teachers with environmental education practitioners.
The Bottom Line
School gardens can be important places that provide environmental education within K–12 school settings, supporting student development and learning related to science, social studies, language arts, mathematics, and other subjects. Yet, in order for school gardens to succeed, they require support of teachers. Often, nostalgia for their own early-childhood learning experiences is a motivating factor that encourages teachers to make use of school gardens; when teachers reflect on their own learning experiences and childhoods, they may have a stronger desire for today's children to have outdoor and nature-based experiences similar to those of the past. Also, teachers may be motivated by their positive observations of children's learning experiences in these settings and how those observations align with their pedagogical beliefs. Having on-site garden coordinators who help maintain the gardens, as well as lesson plans that connect with standards, can also help make it easier for teachers to use these sites for teaching and learning.