Artikel
Do radishes and carrots grow in a bunch? Students’ knowledge about the growth of food plants and their ideas of a school garden design
Hellinger, F., Benkowitz, D. & Lindemann-Matthies, P. (2022). Do radishes and carrots grow in a bunch? Students’ knowledge about the growth of food plants and their ideas of a school garden design, Education Science, 12(5).DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12050299
Abstract
School gardens can be places of biodiversity and suitable learning environments for
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). In particular, vegetable patches where students
can make their own experiences in food growing are very apt to connect local acting and global
thinking, which is one of the main concerns of ESD. Working in a school garden could be a chance to
overcome the lack of perception and knowledge about plants and their life cycles, which is described
as “plant blindness”. Concerning the impact of school gardening, studies often investigate teachers’
perspectives only. Therefore, in our study, we focused on students. Participants were mainly fifth and
sixth graders in middle and grammar school (mean age 12.3 years, n = 2107). With a paper-pencil
test, we investigated their knowledge about the growth of 10 selected crop plants and asked them
to rate school garden design elements referring to their importance and suitability for taking over
responsibility for nature. In addition, we asked for character traits necessary for a successful school
gardener. The results showed that about 40% of the students are convinced that carrots and radishes
grow in bunches underground, and nearly 50% thought kohlrabi is growing underground as well.
Girls performed better than boys. Increasing age and experience in gardening had a positive effect
on the answers. In the students’ opinion, fruit trees, birdhouses, and vegetable patches are the most
important elements in school gardens. The liking of nature and patience were highly scored skills for
successful school gardening. The influence of experiences in gardening on the answers showed the
important role that school gardening could play to gain hands-on knowledge about plant growth
and thus offer quality education for every student. This would not only contribute to the reduction of
plant blindness but answer the requests of ESD and the goals postulated in the Agenda 2030.
Sprache: Englisch
Art der Begutachtung: Peer Review(Double-blind peer review)
Print: Nein
Online: Ja, mit Open Access aber ohne CC-Lizenz
Datenmedium: Keine Angabe
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