Community Gardens as Places for Ecological Caring in Action

Abstract

Current and future Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM) students must grapple with one of the most pressing scientific issues of the century: climate change. Teaching about climate change with our youngest learners requires preparation, and planting roots to foster growth, innovation, and sustainability. Building a community garden with elementary students is a way to act towards climate justice as it reminds us about how all living things are part of an interconnected system. This article describes a fifth-grade climate change action project that was part of a unit that aligns with the state science standards and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), focused on how science learning can be used to protect the Earth’s resources and local environments. The anchoring phenomenon and lessons of the unit highlighted the annual migration of the monarch butterflies, a local endangered species and phenomenon. By planting milkweed in the garden, students learned about migration, life cycles, greenhouse gases, and the survival of monarch butterflies. This article provides educators with ideas and practical suggestions for building a garden and an overview of how the project can be implemented within a school community.

Keywords:

• 3–5
• K–12 Framework
• NGSS
• obtaining
• evaluating
• and communicating information
• Earth systems/weather
• environmental change
• physical changes
• systems and system models
• asking questions and defining problems

Supplemental Resources

We have shared the following materials online:

Checklist for Creating a Community Garden

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zgZxlB6ZEQrEaY0LIy6Bk_pK3ZQLpuxySgNgeeVt4nI/edit

Climate Change and Community Gardens PowerPoint Lesson

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dLV_6MXIQcoEJ9FzL4wFy9ruRHct__SLASHLJFDDfLo/edit#slide=id.p3

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amal Ibourk

Amal Ibourk ([email protected]) is an assistant professor of science education at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. Lauren Wagner is a Ph.D. candidate in Curriculum & Instruction with a focus in Elementary Education at Florida State University. Deb Morrison is a co-founder, learning scientist, designer, and advisor of CLEAR Environmental. Syrena Young is a Criminology major at Florida State University. Justin Milledge is a second-year Political Science Major and Garden Chair of the Florida State University Environmental Service Program.