Elementary School Students’ Needs and Preferences Regarding Urban Agriculture

Urban Farm DB summary

A 21-item questionnaire was administered over three weeks in October 2017 to 1,268 students in grades 4-6 at four elementary schools in Seoul, South Korea. 73.7% reported awareness of and need for urban agriculture and 86.8% (n=1,048) expressed intent to participate, while only 35.4% (n=400) recommended it as a learning activity, 20.9% (n=236) cited stress reduction, and 16.2% (n=183) cited leisure/hobby purposes; preferred indoor activities were planting (21.8%) and preferred outdoor activities were harvesting (20.8%). Female students reported greater perception, experience, awareness of necessity, and willingness to participate than male students (P=0.01), and lower-grade students perceived urban agriculture as more necessary than higher-grade students (P<0.001).