Date
2019-03-22
Document Type
Poster
Description
Research suggests that there are many benefits of school gardens for students, teachers and community. Not only can they help children eat more fruits and vegetables and be more physically active, they can help to create learning opportunities and increase teacher satisfaction. In Worcester, Massachusetts, a city with high poverty and food insecurity rates, a broad community coalition formed to brainstorm novel implementation models to improve the use and sustainability of school gardens. The group decided to foster new collaborations among higher education, K-12 schools and community organizations. The innovative idea was that higher education could meet their need for real-world application of various curricula, such as education, business, urban agriculture, marketing, horticulture, sustainable development, and engineering, through the implementation of school gardens. The resulting conference called AGES (Academic Gardening to Enrich our Students) united school teachers, professors, administration and community partners. The sessions featured information on: 1) successful models of higher education-K12 school garden partnerships, 2) building school gardening into the curriculum (psychosocial skills, STEM, environmental sciences, project-based learning, nutrition, healthy lifestyles), 3) research evidence on the benefits of school gardens, 4) strategies for building community through gardening, and 5) garden planning and maintenance. US Representative Jim McGovern was the keynote speaker, highlighting the importance of this collaborative work.
Keywords
school gardens, food insecurity, AGES (Academic Gardening to Enrich our Students), Worcester
DOI
10.13028/f35e-5v97
Rights and Permissions
Copyright the Author(s)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Repository Citation
Assefa, Martha; Barnosky, Pat; Beaulieu, Michelle; Borg, Amy; Burns, Casey; Cawley, Marguerite; De Jordy, Jennifer; Harvey, Daina; Hopkins, Kelsey; Hunt, Sue; Jaber Gauvin, Joanne; Jenkins, Isabelle; Lawrence, Eliza; Marinescu, Anna; May, Mackenzie; Plata-Nino, Gina; Sliwoski, Grace; and Saltsman, Adam, "Next Steps from a School Gardening Partnership Conference (AGES: Academic Gardening to Enrich our Students): Expanding the Impact of School Gardens Through Higher Education, K-12 School and Community Coalitions" (2019). Community Engagement and Research Symposia. 11.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/chr_symposium/2019/posters/11
https://doi.org/10.13028/f35e-5v97.
Included in
Agricultural Education Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Community-Based Research Commons, Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Elementary Education Commons, Food Security Commons, Higher Education Commons, Public Health Education and Promotion Commons, Secondary Education Commons, Translational Medical Research Commons
Next Steps from a School Gardening Partnership Conference (AGES: Academic Gardening to Enrich our Students): Expanding the Impact of School Gardens Through Higher Education, K-12 School and Community Coalitions
Research suggests that there are many benefits of school gardens for students, teachers and community. Not only can they help children eat more fruits and vegetables and be more physically active, they can help to create learning opportunities and increase teacher satisfaction. In Worcester, Massachusetts, a city with high poverty and food insecurity rates, a broad community coalition formed to brainstorm novel implementation models to improve the use and sustainability of school gardens. The group decided to foster new collaborations among higher education, K-12 schools and community organizations. The innovative idea was that higher education could meet their need for real-world application of various curricula, such as education, business, urban agriculture, marketing, horticulture, sustainable development, and engineering, through the implementation of school gardens. The resulting conference called AGES (Academic Gardening to Enrich our Students) united school teachers, professors, administration and community partners. The sessions featured information on: 1) successful models of higher education-K12 school garden partnerships, 2) building school gardening into the curriculum (psychosocial skills, STEM, environmental sciences, project-based learning, nutrition, healthy lifestyles), 3) research evidence on the benefits of school gardens, 4) strategies for building community through gardening, and 5) garden planning and maintenance. US Representative Jim McGovern was the keynote speaker, highlighting the importance of this collaborative work.