Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
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School garden as a teaching resource to strengthen the mathematical reasoning of students in the primary basics of the educational institution la chorrera municipio de capitanejo, santander
2017Jose Grabiel Silva Triana · Universidad Industrial de Santander · Colombia
This project aimed to develop mathematical skills in third and fifth-grade students at La Chorrera Educational Institution in Capitanejo, Santander, Colombia, using a school garden strategy. The school garden allowed students to experience daily tasks with a pedagogical purpose, reinforcing mathematical concepts like perimeter and area. The project utilized the "Escuela Nueva" methodology, providing individual activities for students to achieve various mathematical concepts within their school context.
Food educationThe cost of sustainability in higher education: staff and student views of a campus food culture
2017Amy Shaw, Teresa Capetola, Justin Lawson, Claire Henderson‐Wilson, Berni Murphy · International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education · Australia (Melbourne)
This study investigated the sustainability of the food culture at Deakin University's Burwood campus and identified barriers to increasing its sustainability. An online survey of 697 staff and students from the Faculty of Health and a paper-based survey of 10 campus food outlets were conducted. The findings revealed that while sustainability considerations are important to staff and students, cost is the main issue and a significant barrier to developing a more sustainable food culture and making healthy food choices.
CommunityFood educationEconomicsGrowing a School Garden
2017Julie Rosenthal, Anissa M. Martin-Conyers, Michelle Albritton · · Global
A vacant lot across from an urban professional development school was converted into a school garden through collaboration among community organizations, school staff, students, and university personnel. Teachers integrated gardening activities into language arts and science instruction, and teacher candidates facilitated a literacy unit on plant life. This project exemplified a PDS-University partnership.
Food educationCommunityDiseño de un huerto escolar para la formación agroecológica de los educandos de la Unidad Educativa “Ciudad Machala”. Cantón Machala, Ecuador
2017MSc. Odalys Bárbara Burgos, Dra. C. María Elena Estrada Martínez, MSc. Carmen Benítez Ruíz · · Ecuador
This study aimed to design a school garden for the Ciudad Machala Educational Unit in Machala Canton, Ecuador, to contribute to students' agroecological training and promote sustainability and food hygiene. Using documentary analysis, the research developed a school garden design. The design is intended to foster a more comprehensive culture among students and encourage healthier, more sustainable dietary habits.
Food educationCommunityHealthGREEN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AS EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MODEL IN UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH
2017Izyan Ayuni Mohamad Selamat, Shahida Mohd Sharif, Januarius Gobilik · Journal of BIMP-EAGA Regional Development · Malaysia
This study shared the experience of Universiti Malaysia Sabah's Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture in developing green infrastructure (GI), specifically a rooftop garden, as a medium for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The project was conducted in four phases: planning and management team formation, participatory planning, site inventory and analysis, and GI design and development. Through this project, participants were directly exposed to identifying environmental issues and their solutions, implementing sustainable initiatives within the campus environment.
Food educationDIYCommunityAgricultura urbana: espacio de encuentro entre procesos de educación no formales y la comunicación para el cambio social (CPCS)
2017Lorena Meneses · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · Colombia (Palmira)
In 2015, Pontificia Bolivariana University implemented the 'Environmental Education' project in Palmira, Colombia. This project aimed to offer an alternative means of food acquisition for children at Fundación Hogar Divino Niño and identify plants usable on the land to minimize negative environmental impact and promote food sovereignty. Although conceived from an agricultural perspective, it became a participatory scenario where non-formal education and communication for social change played a role in uniting a community around a common good.
Food educationCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceWelfareSchool Children’s Intestinal Parasite and Nutritional Status One Year after Complementary School Garden, Nutrition, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Interventions in Burkina Faso
2017Séverine Erismann, Serge Diagbouga, Christian Schindler, Peter Odermatt, Astrid M. Knoblauch, Jana Gerold, Andrea Leuenberger, Akina Shrestha, Grissoum Tarnagda, Jürg Utzinger, Guéladio Cissé · American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · Burkina Faso
A cluster-randomized controlled trial in Burkina Faso, involving 360 children aged 8-15, assessed the impact of school garden, nutrition, and WASH interventions on intestinal parasites and nutritional status. The prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections significantly decreased in intervention schools compared to control schools (OR = 0.2), and safe handwashing and latrine use improved. However, indices of undernutrition and water quality parameters did not decrease or change in intervention schools.
Food educationHealthWelfareEffects of School Gardening Lessons on Elementary School Children’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Time
2017Erika Rees‐Punia, Alicia Lynn Haire Holloway, D. A. Knauft, Michael D. Schmidt · Journal of Physical Activity and Health · Global
This study investigated the effects of school gardening lessons on elementary school children's physical activity and sedentary time. Teachers from four elementary schools taught one math or science lesson per week in the school garden. Physical activity was measured using accelerometers on 74 children, and 75 were observed, comparing garden days and no-garden days. Children spent a significantly larger proportion of time active on garden days at three of the four schools, and the proportion of time spent sedentary and active differed significantly across schools.
Food educationHealthThe impact of urban gardens on adequate and healthy food: a systematic review
2017Mariana Tarricone Garcia, Silvana M Ribeiro, Ana Cláudia Camargo Gonçalves Germani, Cláudia Maria Bógus · Public Health Nutrition · Global
This systematic review examined the impacts of urban garden participation on food and nutrition outcomes, including healthy food practices, access, beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes. It analyzed 12 studies published between 2005 and 2015, finding significant heterogeneity in settings, populations, and methods, and a need for greater methodological rigor. The review reported positive impacts such as increased fruit and vegetable consumption, better access to healthy foods, and enhanced valuing of cooking and organic production.
HealthFood educationCommunityEnvironmental educators learning and theorizing place-responsive pedagogy
2017Robert B. Stevenson, Gregory A. Smith · · Global
This paper discusses professional learning opportunities for teachers regarding outdoor environmental pedagogy. These opportunities include resource materials, formal experience-based workshops at centers, informal observations and discussions, and collaborative curriculum planning with center educators. Various methods, such as creating school gardens and engaging in green school activities, are presented to alert students to the importance of reinhabitation.
Food educationCommunityEVALUACIÓN DE UNA PRÁCTICA DE AGRICULTURA URBANA CON BOTELLAS PET EN EL MUNICIPIO DE POPAYÁN
2017ANTONIO JOSE CHAGUENDO DORADO, Sandra Morales Velasco, Fabio Alonso Prado Cerón · Biotecnología en el Sector Agropecuario y Agroindustrial · Colombia (Popayán)
A study in Popayán's Comuna 2 evaluated PET bottle urban agriculture practices, examining two crops (cilantro and lettuce) and three bottle orientations (horizontal, vertical, 45-degree inclined). Agronomic variables like height, coverage, vigor, and biomass were analyzed using SPSS 22. Results showed that vertical bottles yielded better production in terms of vigor and fresh weight for both species, attributed to the relationship between container size and root development.
DIYFood educationCommunityTHE EXPERIENCE OF AN AGROECOLOGICAL SCHOOL GARDEN AS AN INTERACTIVE AND CREATIVE HEALTH PROMOTION STRATEGY
2017Natália Gebrim Dória, Denise Eugênia Pereira Coelho, Mariana Tarricone Garcia, Helena Akemi Wada Watanabe, Cláudia Maria Bógus · DEMETRA Alimentação Nutrição & Saúde · Global
This study aimed to analyze a school garden as a health promotion strategy from the students' perspective. Forty-nine students aged 10-11 years participated, using a draw-and-tell method to illustrate and report on their experiences in the school garden. Analysis of these reports identified categories related to Health Promotion principles such as equity, social participation, empowerment, sustainability, and personal skills development, as well as Nutrition Education and Food and Nutrition Security.
Food educationHealthCommunityPerancangan Interior Sekolah Dasar Dengan Penerapan Konsep Green Building
2017Shearen Hariono · Intra · Global
This interior design project for a primary school aims to facilitate learning activities, including environmental care, by implementing a green building concept. The design incorporates green activities such as a school garden to educate children aged 6-12 about the environment. Based on greenship interior space version 1.0 parameters, this primary school design achieved a gold rating with 74 points and a percentage of 71.8%.
Food educationCommunityCollaborative planning via urban agriculture: The case of Tegucigalpa, Honduras
2017Andrea Oyuela, Arnold van der Valk · Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems · Honduras (Tegucigalpa)
This study questions the adequacy of Tegucigalpa's top-down planning system in Honduras and explores urban agriculture (UA) as a potential building block for a bottom-up strategy. While UA is organized in Tegucigalpa due to residents' need to overcome food insecurity and hardship, the concept of active citizenship and bottom-up development is not yet consolidated. Furthermore, challenges exist regarding the resources needed for practicing UA and the diffusion of knowledge to the population.
Governance failurePolicyCommunityFood educationFood sovereignty & justiceImpact of school gardens in Nepal: a cluster randomised controlled trial
2017Pepijn Schreinemachers, Dhruba Raj Bhattarai, Giri Dhari Subedi, Tej P. Acharya, Hsiao-pu Chen, Ray-Yu Yang, Narayan Kaji Kashichhawa, Upendra Dhungana, Gregory C. Luther, Maureen Mecozzi · Journal of Development Effectiveness · Nepal
This study evaluated the combined impact of school gardens and nutrition education on 10- to 15-year-old schoolchildren in Nepal, using a cluster randomized controlled trial with 1275 students (2014) and 785 students (2015). After one year, significant improvements were observed in children's awareness of fruits and vegetables, knowledge of sustainable agriculture, food, nutrition, and health, and stated preferences for eating fruits and vegetables. However, these improvements in intermediary outcomes did not translate into significant improvements in fruit and vegetable consumption or nutritional status.
Limited or null effectFood educationHealthCommunity‘Because the ego started to grow bigger than the project itself’: a case study of founder’s syndrome on an educational community of practise
2017Donovon Ceaser · Ethnography & Education · Global
This study analyzed the leadership of founder John Browne at Green Shoots, a nonprofit service-learning urban farming school established in 2010, using the theory of founder's syndrome. Browne, despite an openly egalitarian community of practice ethic, created a hierarchy at the school that led to a staff walk-out and subsequent firings. Findings revealed Browne as a charming and inspirational teacher who engaged in dominating leadership contradicting the community of practice's ideals, resulting in disrespected students, disillusioned staff, and a founder unable to take responsibility for his leadership.
Governance failureCommunityFood educationPolicyImpact Indicators for Community Garden Programs: Using Delphi Methods to Inform Program Development and Evaluation
2017John Diaz, Sue Webb, Laura A. Warner, Paul Monoghan · HortTechnology · Global
This study demonstrated the use of a Delphi approach with a diverse panel of community garden stakeholders to reach consensus about program outcomes for community garden programs. The panel successfully reached consensus on a variety of short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes. The study aimed to provide a framework for program development and evaluation that stakeholders can adopt to show program outcomes, addressing the difficulty of learning lessons from geographically specific community garden studies.
CommunityHealthFood educationWelfareLa agricultura urbana como fenómeno de progreso local : experiencias en la ciudad de Bogotá
2017Izquierdo Acosta, Daniel Francisco · · Colombia (Bogotá)
This study examined five urban agriculture experiences in Bogotá, Colombia, focusing on productivity (species richness and market prices), resource use and management (water, energy, land, waste), and human organizational forms. The research aims to make these contexts known to farmers and academia, providing insights for better implementation of urban agriculture.
Food sovereignty & justiceFood educationCommunityEconomicsIntroducing School Gardens to the Omani Context: A Preliminary Study with Grade 7 Classes
2017Neil Taylor, Abdulla Ambusaidi, Rashid Al‐Yahyai, Subhashni Taylor · Eurasia Journal of Mathematics Science and Technology Education · Oman
A pilot school gardening project in Oman, using a mixed-method quasi-experimental design with Grade 7 classes, investigated its impact. Quantitative findings tentatively suggest improved learning outcomes in science skill development. Qualitative findings indicated a positive impact on students' affective domain and, in some cases, encouraged healthier eating habits.
Food educationHealthNature study in practice
2017Dorothy Kass · · Australia
This chapter examines sources related to teaching nature study in schools. A few years before the 1904 syllabus introduction in New South Wales, most teachers were unfamiliar with nature study, and inspectors were skeptical about elementary science in state schools. Richmond Public School offers an example of nature study in practice, though its situation was unique.
Food educationCommunityUrban Agriculture and Campus Sustainability: Recent Books
2017Stephanie Ritchie · Metropolitan Universities · Global
This selected bibliography compiles recently published books relevant to higher education institutions concerning food, agriculture, and sustainability efforts. It addresses the increasing interest in food production, distribution, consumption, and disposal, and how universities are integrating these concerns into curricula and sustainability initiatives.
Food educationCommunityPolicyEL HUERTO ESCOLAR COMO HERRAMIENTA INNOVADORA QUE CONTRIBUYE AL DESARROLLO COMPETENCIAL DEL ESTUDIANTE UNIVERSITARIO. UNA PROPUESTA EDUCATIVA MULTIDISCIPLINAR
2017Ana María Botella Nicolás, Amparo Hurtado Soler, José Cantó Doménech · Vivat Academia · Global
The school garden is an educational resource that allows students to approach the natural environment by designing interdisciplinary experiences that contribute to the development of basic skills. At the university level, it facilitates collaborative learning and the acquisition of socio-environmental skills. The L'Hort 2.0 project aims to create a virtual environment based on the school garden for ICT content management, linking outside-the-classroom activities with teaching guide content. This project was conducted using an active and collaborative methodology in three phases: preparation and design of the web environment in six areas, development of educational materials, and evaluation of their usefulness in the classroom and effectiveness in the student learning process. The results show high student involvement in the learning process and improved assessment results that better reflect the skills attained.
Food educationCommunityUsing the Cultivating Learning with School Gardens Curriculum in Burundi, Africa
2017Suzanne Smith, K. Anne Wright, Lauren Hrncirik, Mary Katherine Deen · Journal of Extension · Burundi
University faculty and Extension educators implemented the "Cultivating Learning with School Gardens" curriculum in Burundi, Africa, to address food insecurity, youth development, and experiential learning. Washington State University personnel trained Burundian NGO staff via videoconferencing, who then trained teachers in pilot programs at four Burundian schools. First harvests occurred in May 2016, with support from an agricultural consultant.
Food educationWelfareCommunityPROMOTING POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT: A SCHOOL GARDEN NARRATIVE
2017Andile Mji · Commonwealth Youth and Development · Global
This study reports on a program where 118 learners (56.8% female), aged 16-18, participated in starting and tending school gardens. The aim was to determine how an empowering environment built learners' competencies and what lessons they learned, and if their utterances reflected positive youth development attributes. Qualitative data from open-ended interviews revealed that learners changed, learned to share, understood the meaning of working with others, and their utterances were consistent with positive youth development competencies.
Food educationCommunityHealthEffect of Urban Agriculture Experience Program on the Mental Health of the Elderly
2017Hyun‐Kyung Kang, Seung Jun Back · Journal of people, plants, and environment · Global
This study investigated the effect of an urban agriculture experience program on the mental health of seniors over 65, comparing a group participating for over six months with a control group. Using t-tests on stress and depression indices, and physiological disparity, the experiment group showed statistically significantly lower stress scores related to loneliness and health, and much lower depression levels than the control group. Autonomic nervous system analysis also indicated lower stress and normal pulse diversity for the experiment group, suggesting urban agriculture stabilizes sympathetic nerves and activates parasympathetic nerves, increasing stress resistance.
HealthElderlyFood educationCommunity