Research & reports

Kamal Prasad Acharya, Chitra Bahadur Budhathoki, Birgitte Bjønness, Bhimsen Devkota · Educational Action Research · Nepal

This participatory action research in a community school in Nepal's Chitwan district investigated school gardening as a contextual scaffold for science learning among sixth and seventh graders. Initial barriers included time allocation and curriculum integration, but students, teachers, and parents later reported active engagement. Overall, school gardening activities positively affected students' understanding of scientific concepts.

Eliot Gee, Hyun-Ju Lee · · Global

Gee and Lee explore the incorporation of local food biodiversity into food and agriculture innovations, with attention to emerging youth-led practices. The chapter highlights opportunities and challenges of mobile apps, urban agriculture, and youth movements. These varied examples are assessed to suggest how social and technological innovative approaches can be leveraged to ensure fair and effective promotion and protection of local food biodiversity across the producer–consumer spectrum.

Esther Cascarosa Salillas, Beatriz Mazas Gil, Ester Mateo González · Journal of Biological Education · Spain

Research with first-year preschoolers in Spain analyzed their ability to observe, compare, classify, and identify small animals using magnifying glasses and dichotomous keys. Students learned to observe intentionally with magnifying glasses and compare small animals based on the number of wings, legs, and color. However, students struggled to use dichotomous keys, indicating that teacher assistance was necessary to develop scientific skills such as observation, comparison, classification, and identification.

Cassia Silva Santos Góes · Revista Integrativa de Inovações Tecnológicas nas Ciências da Saúde · Brazil

This paper documents the presentation of the “School Garden Project in Bahia” at the International Congress on Technological Innovation in Health Sciences, held from November 15 to 18, 2017, at IFBA SAJ. The presentation highlighted the school's experiences with a social community garden, including resistances, advancements, garden care outside school hours, and the teaching of composting and natural fertilizers using organic compounds.

Koh Ming Wei, Samuel Bikajle · · Republic of the Marshall Islands

This paper describes the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) School Learning Garden Program, which adapts the Ku Aina Pa teacher training program from Hawai‘i. The program focuses on using learning gardens as outdoor labs for interdisciplinary environmental education, opening new avenues for teaching and learning in the RMI.

Harry Kasumba, M. Mashologu, Patrick W Bwowe · · South Africa

An investigation into the sustainability of school food gardens in Chris Hani District, South Africa, used a mixed-methods approach with a purposive sample of six schools. Findings revealed significant bottlenecks hindering sustainability, specifically inadequate funding and a lack of proper planning for school food gardening activities.

A. V. Silva, Jamerson Fábio Silva Filho, Dalcimar Regina Batista Wangen, M. L. C. Souza, E. L. Silva · Scientific Electronic Archives · Brazil (Urutaí)

This project at Maria Cândida de Jesus Municipal School in Urutaí, Brazil, engaged elementary students and staff in composting and school gardening to raise awareness about waste reduction, reuse, and recycling. Participants learned about environmental issues, practiced composting with Californian worms, and used the resulting compost to fertilize vegetables in a newly built school garden. The initiative successfully demonstrated student enthusiasm for selective waste collection, composting monitoring, and garden implementation.

Acuña Caro, Camilo Andrés · · Colombia (Bogota)

This applied research aimed to demonstrate the role of the Bogota Botanical Garden's Network of School Vegetable Gardens in applying and strengthening environmental education policy. Using a diagnostic-based methodological framework, the study examined objectives, thematic lines, and practices of participating school gardens. The findings are intended to provide proposals and recommendations for implementing future school gardens as pedagogical instruments for environmental education.

Julian Gonsalves, Danny Hunter, Nina Lauridsen · · Global

School garden programs have been a popular development intervention over past decades, with objectives varying from teaching improved farming skills and supporting community food production to demonstrating agricultural practices in developing countries. This chapter provides a history of school gardens and an overview of their multiple benefits. These benefits include enhanced understanding of agriculture and nutrition, improved farming and livelihood skills, positive behavioral changes towards food, agrobiodiversity conservation, understanding climate change impacts, enhanced academic performance, empowerment of girls and women, cultural reconnection for indigenous children, and addressing schoolchildren's mental health.

Lydia Maleknia, Vanessa Boshuizen, Deepika Parmar, Mengyou Wu, Catherine Pourdavoud · PEDIATRICS · United States

The REACH program of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California pediatrics residency aimed to develop a school-based gardening program for middle-school students to promote nutritional education. A needs assessment of 278 students revealed 33% experienced food insecurity and 51% consumed more than one sugary drink daily. After only three classes, 12 participating students reported improvements in eating at least five vegetables daily (from 58% to 66%) and in nutrition knowledge (from 20% to 50% accuracy in completing a "healthy plate").

Pepijn Schreinemachers, Ghassan Baliki, Rachana Manandhar Shrestha, Dhruba Raj Bhattarai, Ishwori Prasad Gautam, Puspa Lal Ghimire, Bhishma P. Subedi, Tilman Brück · Global Food Security · Nepal

A one-year cluster randomized controlled trial in Nepal (2018-2019) with 779 schoolchildren (8-12) and their caregivers across 30 schools tested the impact of combining school and home gardens on food choices. The intervention increased caregivers' food and nutrition knowledge by 26%, agricultural knowledge by 5%, liking for vegetables by 10%, and home garden productivity by 15%. For children, it had no effect on food and nutrition knowledge but increased their liking for vegetables by 6%, healthy food practices, and vegetable consumption by 15-26% across different periods.

Monika Bajaj · · Global

This chapter explores the role of experiential learning in environmental education, noting that traditional methods often lack personal engagement. Experiential learning, through direct, hands-on experiences, aims to foster ecological literacy, emotional connections to nature, critical thinking, and sustainable behaviors. The chapter discusses its principles, alignment with environmental education goals, and ability to enhance understanding of ecological systems, promote interdisciplinary thinking, and encourage civic engagement.

Margot Dudkiewicz, Patryk Krupiński, Magdalena Stefanek, Marcin Iwanek · Teka Komisji Architektury Urbanistyki i Studiów Krajobrazowych · Poland (Stasin)

A case study of a project transforming the grounds of a primary school in Stasin, Poland, into a sensory garden is presented. The project aims to meet diverse children's needs, support their development, and enable creative classes for teachers by creating zones for sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, along with representative, educational, sport, and recreation zones.

Stéfanny da Cruz Nóbrega, Lara Cristine Gomes Ferreira · OKARA Geografia em debate · Brazil (Goiânia)

This article presents results from a university extension project between the Federal University of Goiás and elementary school students in Goiânia, Brazil. The project focused on socio-environmental education through an agroecological school garden, integrating theory and practice with didactic sequences on agrarian geography topics like food consumption awareness, socio-biodiversity, traditional knowledge, and soil management. Activities included workshops on vertical gardens and composting, a soil workshop, and field trips, aiming to exchange knowledge on agricultural production forms, agroecology, and food sovereignty, valuing family farming.

Pinky Hemnani, Diah Anggraini · Jurnal Sains Teknologi Urban Perancangan Arsitektur (Stupa) · Indonesia (Jakarta)

In Jakarta, Indonesia, unhealthy eating habits contribute to urban problems, leading to a need for "third places" for interaction, healthy eating education, and economic improvement through urban agriculture for residents in Rawa Bunga and surrounding areas. This study proposes a design concept for such a "third place," combining an "edutani" community program with a commercial program. The design aims to meet the characteristics of a "third place" and open architecture, including playfulness, conversation, neutrality, accessibility, and accommodation.

Cleusa Fernandes Ramos, Andréia Assunção Soares, Isabela Carvalho dos Santos, F. Ramos, Odair Alberton, Luciana Kazue Otutumi, Lidiane Nunes Barbosa, Ricardo de Melo Germano, Daniela Dib Gonçalves, Luiz Sérgio Merlini · Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology · Brazil

This 2020 study in Brazil evaluated the bacteriological quality of six medicinal plants from community gardens, including Cymbopogon citratus and Aloysia citriodora. Analysis of cold extracts revealed bacterial contamination, with Plectranthus barbalus showing the highest aerobic mesophile count and Aloysia citriodora the highest coliform count at 45°C. However, the study concluded that heat treatment (boiling for teas) can significantly reduce or eliminate this bacteriological contamination, making the plants safe for consumption.

Rahmawaty Rahmawaty · Journal of Saintech Transfer · Indonesia (Medan)

This activity at Khansa Kindergarten in Medan aimed to provide environmental education for early childhood by engaging students in planting various types of plants, including vegetables, ornamental plants, fruits, and medicinal plants. The activity involved preparing planting media, planting, and harvesting fast-growing vegetables. The results showed that the children were enthusiastic and happy, and the school environment became greener and more beautiful with the increased vegetation.

Mee-Young Kang, Hyun–Shik Moon, Jeong-Woon Joo, Sojin Kim, Moo-Ryong Huh · The Journal of Korean Island · South Korea

This study compared and analyzed the planting status in school gardens of six elementary schools in Geoje-city, Gyeongsangnam-do, to provide basic data for future school garden development for environmental education. Schools with "meditation forests" had larger garden areas, higher green ratios, and more plant species (66-70 species vs. 32-48 species) and individuals (average 597 vs. 331) than general schools. However, the consistency rate between garden plants and textbook plants was similar (around 40% for meditation forest schools, 36% for general schools), indicating a need to improve this for educational effectiveness.

Sérgio Murilo de Souza Filho, Vanessa Aparecida Alves de Lima · · Brazil (Joinvile-SC)

A participant research on teacher education using a project-based learning model was conducted with three teachers from a municipal school in Joinvile-SC, Brazil. The study involved seven meetings with the teachers and three diagnostic tools, including a semi-open questionnaire and a focus group. The experience demonstrated that garden pedagogy can dynamize content within the school curriculum, and a pedagogical garden was constructed with the help of students throughout the process.

Charoni Eugenia · · Haiti

A case study was conducted on the two-year efforts of the nonprofit Foundation Pierre Smith Mondelus to address illiteracy in the Milot commune, northern Haiti. The foundation offers eight programs, including literacy, education, and a community garden. Based on observations, testimonies, and test scores, the literacy and education programs were shown to have practical and sociopsychological impacts.

Ana Rosa Domingues dos Santos, Nádia Lúcia Almeida Nunes, Alessandra Santos dos Santos, Camila Neves Soares Oliveira, Lídio Coradin, Daniela Moura de Oliveira, Neio Campos · · Brazil

This paper described the integration of food biodiversity into school curricula through school gardens and gastronomy activities in Brazil. School gardens were utilized as rich pedagogical tools in various classes, including arts, math, and languages, beyond the initially expected biology and geography. The gastronomy area focused on cultural and regional food habits and the technical and sensorial features of food, also serving as a pedagogical tool in classes from history and sociology to math and geography.

Ayfer Tan, Neşe Adanacıoğlu, Saadet Tuğrul Ay, Malek Batal, Hala Ghattas, Salma N. Talhouk · · Turkey

In Turkey, wild edible plants have been an integral part of human diets since prehistoric times and are common in local cuisine. These plants are known to be high in nutrients and can improve the quality and diversity of diets. The collection of wild edible species offers a cheap solution to boosting school meals with a variety of nutrients.

Ahmad Rifqi Fauzi, Warid Warid, Maulidian Maulidian · Khadimul Ummah · Indonesia (Jakarta)

Since 2016, Trilogy University's Community Partnership Program has disseminated urban agriculture technology and empowered residents of the West Jatinegara Flats in Jakarta, Indonesia. This initiative supports the DKI Jakarta provincial government's urban farming program, aiming to enhance food security and reforestation. Activities included training in vertical farming, composting, and utilizing open land, resulting in residents becoming familiar with urban farming technology and the implementation of hydroponics for net houses.

Sarah E. Cramer, Mercedes Tichenor · · United States

The Garden-Based Learning Project, a collaboration between Stetson University and a local elementary school, was developed to address the gap in teachers' comfort and skills with integrating garden-based learning into their pedagogy. This article describes the first year of the project, which aims to leverage the known benefits of school gardens, such as increased physical activity and improved student attitudes, while highlighting its accomplishments and future sustainability plans.

Erin Ingram, Jenny Keshwani · Journal of Extension · United States (Nebraska)

A survey of Nebraska schools characterized existing school-based growing spaces and identified challenges limiting garden-based STEM learning. The study confirmed the use of these spaces for K-12 STEM instruction, particularly in sciences. However, opportunities for technology and engineering experiences were found to be limited, indicating a need for additional professional development support to expand garden-based STEM learning.