Entrance  Slip: September 26,2019

  

Gardens of Hope!

The idea of having a school garden may not be new in Canada, but for me, in person, this sounds interesting. We use to have a big garden/ lawn in the centre of our school premises in India, around which were structured four walls of learning, The garden had beautiful flowers (no crops/vegetables), which we were allowed to see from far because of strict discipline rules. Going through the article, "The UBC Orchard Garden and Cultivating Learning Network" by Susan Gerofsky, I realised the significant role a garden can play in cultivating ethical and moral values in the students.

        I wonder, we(our generation of the 90s) have also been taught in schools about cultural, economic and environmental sustainability, awareness(missing activism) about global climate changes, energy conservation and renewable sources, physical health(mental health misinterpreted with mental illness), the goals that these gardens work on, yet no significant revision can be found in climate changes. Instead, it has been worse than ever before. I may be wrong in stating this so straight forward, but now I know that teaching about environmental sustainability without incorporating the environment physically into schooling can do no good.

     We often talk/hear that schools should provide students with the latest tech designed classrooms and laboratories, planting a garden is equally important as having a well-equipped infrastructure. Children spend a lot of their day time in schools and teaching inside classrooms only can sometimes become monotonous and unexciting for them. Also, health issues like diabetes, obesity are now more common among young children because of unhealthy lifestyles. In such a phase, having a garden in school and consolidating it into the timetable as a part of enforcing curriculum could be helpful. 

      Students can walk around in the garden(nature walk), feel fresh and relax their minds which can promote better physical and mental health. They can learn to grow vegetables and develop healthy eating habits while developing respect for food. Additionally, they can learn to share the food with others, fostering social-emotional bonding. This can also be useful in advertising the notion of "GO GREEN".

   There are many ways to include environmental education in the curriculum. I think using gardens to teach Science can be a good approach. Composting, planting seeds and watching trees grow, inquiring effects of water and sunlight on certain plants to study photosynthesis, looking for opportunistic plants, the study of matter around us, coding activities with microbits to test soil moisture, ripples in the water to study waves,  slot for rainwater harvesting, etc can be some of the activities that would enhance active learning in the lap of nature. Students may also have their work shared with other classes through an exhibition in the garden. Different subject teachers can collaborate for integrated learning.

     All this may sound easy and beautiful, but there can be few challenges like the ones mentioned in the article. Profits from real estate developments, safety concerns related to allergies associated with the vegetation, flexibility in the schedule so that all teachers can manage to share/access school garden for their subject, etc. The pros of having a school garden definitely supersede the difficulties, which I believe can be tackled together with administration, community and government support. Let's all work together towards these gardens of hope as Audrey Hepburn rightly states, "To Plant, a garden is to believe in tommorow".

   I am looking forward to this Thursday's class as it will be a new experience of learning out in nature for me.