Date of Award
Spring 5-15-2020
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Middle and Secondary Education
First Advisor
Renee Schwartz PhD
Second Advisor
Maggie Renken, Phd
Third Advisor
Natalie King, PhD
Fourth Advisor
Patrick Enderle, PhD
Fifth Advisor
Audrey Leroux, PhD
Abstract
Since the turn of the century gardens have been spaces for learning to take place. Gardens allow for a variety of disciplines to be explored from horticulture to art. In the mid nineteen nineties a school garden movement began to grow, in the United States and by the early two thousands several states had implemented a school garden policy. The majority of school gardens focus on academic outcomes (e.g. science, math, or language arts) or health outcomes (e.g. nutrition, well-being, and self-esteem).
Currently, there is limited information about how school gardens can be places for scientific inquiry and practices to develop in students. Furthermore, more in-depth mixed-method research on school gardens and how school gardens can produce learning opportunities for scientific practices to develop need to be conducted. Future research should take a new direction. The scientific practices created by Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (LeadStates, 2013) need to be explored further in relation to how exposure to a school garden can affect these practices and knowledge about inquiry learning (Callahan, 2012; Chi, Dorph & Reisman, 2016; Kisiel & Anderson, 2010).
Through this dissertation, school gardens can be viewed as an extension of the traditional classroom. School gardens have the potential to foster learners’ abilities to construct real-life associations with science content due to engagement, free exploration, and scientific investigation. This study found school gardens as an out of class room setting where students have the ability to learn and develop their understanding about scientific inquiry and scientific practices. This new avenue may help develop better scientific literacy universally across learners. This research work created curriculum and assessment tools to use in conjunction with an out of classroom setting such as a school garden.
Recommended Citation
Carrion, Carmen A., "Do Students Gain Scientific Inquiry Knowledge and Practices by Participating in a School Garden Inquiry Unit?." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2020.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/17572404
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/17572404
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