To address the limited time and support for elementary science, science instruction is sometimes distributed among classroom teachers, science specialists, and informal science educators, creating a complex school science culture. We investigate how student agency may be enabled and constrained when school science learning happens simultaneously…

In this article, we explore the implementation of a time-based intervention in a garden-based science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics curriculum with a 3rd-grade science class that flipped the overdetermined functions of time and overdependence on predetermined learning outcomes to cultivate a disposition of sensitivity to the…

The present study explores the outcomes of teaching empathy and critical thinking to solve environmental problems. This investigation was done throughout the duration of an environmental education course within a primary school located in central Chile. A community-based research methodology was used to understand the formation of empathy and…

The creation of schoolyard gardens is a growing movement in the United States and around the world (Ballard, Tong, and Usher 1998; Pope 1998; Lewis 2004). It brings together all of the features of authentic hands-on science: Students can collect data on plant growth, observe the plant and animal interactions in the garden, and acquire a sense of…

The crisis of sustainability can be linked to the traditional forms of schooling driven by mechanistic and technocratic worldviews. Progressing to a more sustainable world requires a fundamental shift in the framework of formal education--its structure, content and process--to include principles of systems thinking and holistic learning. A case…

This article summarizes a 2000 study of school garden programs and their variation and the impact of such variation on 427 third-grade students' sense of responsibility and attitudes toward science and the environment. A teacher questionnaire was developed to gain insight into how teachers use school gardens with their students and in their…

A Clemson University introductory landscape design class collaborated with South Carolina Botanical Gardens (SCBG) staff and coordinators of Sprouting Wings to design an exploratory Children's Garden within the SCBG. Service learning provides students with invaluable real-world experiences solving problems and interacting with clients while…