Mathematical and Experimental Science Education from the School Garden: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Practice

The much-needed interest in promoting a healthy lifestyle among school-age students has found a context for development: school gardens. There are numerous studies where using gardens as a teaching–learning context also improves students’ performance in the experimental sciences. In this study, we proposed another interest that sets it apart and adds motivation: combining curricular mathematics with experimental science content in this context. The search for possible studies in the scientific literature has gave rise to the review presented herein. From this review, we obtained 21 studies, from which we extracted a series of categories: whether research was undertaken and with which tools; which curricular contents were covered and the impact produced; the ages of the participants and duration of the project; and, finally, whether the garden was cultivated. The main conclusion of this search was the lack of a clear line of research linking school gardens, the experimental sciences, and mathematics, in addition to the scant presence of studies framed in this context. For that reason, we send a call to action to the scientific community encouraging the interdisciplinarity of the two aforementioned subjects within the context of school gardens.

Sustainability and education through social networks. Presence and visibility of the school garden on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

The use of school gardens as an educational practice in Spanish educational centers has recently regained greater prominence and significance, especially within the framework of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. However, the presence and visibility of school gardens as well as the ways in which centers use them remain little known to the educational community. Furthermore, in a world where our lives are increasingly governed by the digital and the Internet, social networks arise as fantastic tools to give prominence and disseminate the educational actions which take place in schools. Seeking to ascertain the extent to which school gardens are visible and present on social media, as well as how schools use those school gardens, we carried out the collection and analysis of the last 100 posts appearing with the hashtag #huertoescolar on three social networks: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It follows from the results obtained not only that educational centers record these practices preferably on Twitter, then on Facebook and finally on Instagram, but also that they utilize school gardens mostly to ensure the practical application of the theoretical contents taught in different academic subjects as well as to encourage students’ environmental awareness. Greater use of school gardens is still needed to work on Sustainable Development Goals, though.

Šolski vrtovi v Pomurski regiji

School-based learning has a long tradition in Slovenia and is now a globally recognized movement. We present the operation of school gardens in the most agricultural region of Slovenia, the Pomurje region, and their inclusion in the pedagogical process of science subjects. Half (19 out of 38) of the primary schools in Pomurje have school gardens. The decision to establish a school garden depends on the good will of the school management and the voluntary interest of the teachers. It would be necessary to include school gardening in science curricula. Garden-related activities contribute to the development of Pomurje as an important agricultural region.

The School Garden: A Social and Emotional Place

School gardens are part of many schools. Especially in primary schools, but also in secondary schools, they are used as a learning space and experience space for the pupils. Their importance for the development of cognitive and emotional-affective abilities of pupils is empirically well proven. It is also empirically well proven that exposure to nature has an influence on the prosocial behavior of children and adults. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the effect of the stay in the school garden on the social behavior of pupils in secondary class. To investigate whether a school garden is a good environment for social learning, a self-report study and standardized observations with sixth-grade pupils were carried out. Thus, the socially competent behavior of the pupils (communication and cooperation) and their emotions could be analyzed. In order to provide emotional access to the scientific content of biology lessons and to strengthen social learning, each pupil was responsible for their own plant and the group bed over a period of 10 weeks. The design of the lessons followed the principles of basic needs—competence, autonomy, and relatedness—of the Self Determination Theory. The observations were made during a 90-min class, in the school garden as well in the classroom. The 31 girls and 22 boys, aged 11–12 years, changed weekly between the garden and the classroom. Over 150 observations were made in the school garden (82) and in the classroom (68). In summary, pupils showed more socially competent behavior in school garden lessons than in classroom lessons. The school garden lessons, designed according to the basic needs, seem to create favorable incentives for social learning. Due to frequent social interactions, it can be assumed that learning activities in school gardens can promote emotional and social competence.