School Gardens: Situating Students within a Global Context

Abstract

School-based gardens are increasingly common. The benefits to students who grow food on their school ground reflect principles of global education by modeling sustainability through responsible ecological planning and service to the community, the environment, and humanity. In this article, the authors propose a pedagogical framework for planning school gardens and related experiences that demonstrate how school gardens promote healthier eating habits, sustainable local practices that impact global economies, and service to the community. Knowledge of cultures, local and global resources, and sustainable food sources are often integrated into successful school garden programs. Care for the community, for each other at the school, and for the planet are possible outcomes. In some settings, school gardens provide students with opportunities to extend what they learn directly about sustainable food sources into service that affects the availability of fresh, healthy foods in locations where socioeconomic factors often work against families' access to them. The article includes reports of interviews with proponents of school gardens who offer a practical introduction to educators who wish to begin to support students' conceptual understanding of how their local actions can promote global community building.