Using the garden for teaching

A school eco-garden is a modern teaching and educational tool. It can enrich learning in every single subject, not only in nature studies and biology. Foreign language lessons, mathematics and other subjects also become more vivid and interesting when the garden is used.

We have set out three ways of using the eco-garden in teaching:

a thematic or project-based approach;
by subject;
by age group.

We hope you like the idea, and we invite you to develop new ways with us of bringing the school garden into the curriculum — or perhaps the curriculum into the school eco-garden.

And here are some pointers for mentors working with a school eco-garden.

To bring the school eco-garden into teaching you need a sound organisational plan, one that involves:

all the school’s staff,
the pupils,
the parents,
representatives of the local and wider community.

If we want the garden to become part of school life and work, we need to tie teaching content to it. That means building links with colleagues across all years and subjects, whether for particular topics in regular lessons or on science, sports and cultural days and in extracurricular activities.

Because the garden lives all year round, through every season, planning can be organised by:

season,
area,
specific activities.

In kindergartens and in years 1 to 5, a plan is made for each group or class separately, linked to the unit as a whole.

For subject teaching the plan is drawn up subject by subject, but with sensible links between them: content delivered in regular lessons, in extracurricular activities, and on science, sports and cultural days.

Cleaners, cooks, caretakers and office staff all have an important part to play.

All of this the mentor does in close co-operation with the head teacher.

A school garden calls for co-operation at all times. It should become an integral part of school life and work.

Planning the work around the school garden is necessary, but it is only realistic to add content as you go when particular circumstances call for it.

By subject

Below are some practical examples of bringing school subjects into work with a school eco-garden.

Biology

the breakdown of natural and man-made materials: collecting organic waste and watching it turn into fertile soil;
studying and creating biodiversity in the garden (fruit, vegetable, herb and ornamental);
the role of animals in the garden;
understanding the role of wild plants;
keeping garden soil covered with plants, mulch and so on;
planting woody species that bear fruit in every season, and studying them;
collecting, raising and sorting natural seed from the garden and from organic growers.

Physics

designing and building terraces with flow-through water catchments; using connected vessels to move collected rainwater from one container to another;
light levels;
how plants respond to wind and temperature: setting up a weather station (working out growing conditions from the weather, day and night temperatures, humidity, air pressure, wind direction).

Music

making instruments from natural materials (wood, leaves, flowers);
making music and listening to the natural sounds of the garden;
choosing music on a chosen theme;
finding the finest rhymes (also in language lessons).

Home economics

taking an active part in growing plants in the garden;
preparing healthy meals from the garden;
preserving produce from the school eco-garden for winter;
hygiene;
spinning, knitting, weaving, lace-making;
making soap and creams.

Chemistry

observing the processes by which organic waste is transformed;
measuring soil pH and judging whether the soil is fertile enough for a school eco-garden from analyses of its composition and mineral content;
germination experiments (in fertile soil, without soil on a damp base, on a dry base, in a warm or cold room, in daylight and without daylight);
experiments with different plants (structure, composition, form).

Art

designing and making things for the garden (containers, benches, sculptures);
drawing and painting garden subjects in every season.

Mathematics

measuring planting and structures: the garden, its beds and its features, using measures of length, area and volume;
designing a spiral bed;
measuring the harvest in different units;
looking at plants through the Fibonacci sequence.

Slovenian language

choosing literary works that describe plants, animals and life in the garden;
writing on the theme of the garden;
using the various names for garden plants;
labelling plants, animals and tools with their Slovenian names;
finding the finest rhymes (also in music lessons);
choosing books in which plants decisively change the characters’ fate;
a writing workshop on the garden of paradise and magical plants;
tracing how plant names and place names developed (also in geography).

Foreign language

labelling plants with their foreign names.

Physical education

taking an active part in working the garden;
placing natural exercise equipment in the garden.

Design and technology

looking after garden tools;
bird feeders;
bird baths;
day-to-day work with plants, from preparing beds, sowing and planting to care and harvest;
recording what happens in the garden with a camera;
building an insect house;
cooling containers;
solar ovens;
a photography workshop.

Geography

the geographical names of plants;
native and local plants;
investigating relief, rock and aspect;
observing climate, water sources and the local economy.

History

the garden through different historical periods;
forgotten plants;
old plant names;
garden tools then and now.

Additionally:

Ethics and society

our relationship with the environment;
interaction games.

Safety

being ready to move about outdoors in a large group;
using tools correctly to avoid injury;
clothing suited to the weather and the work.

By age group

On this page we give examples of using the eco-garden in teaching, arranged by age group.

The variety of life in the eco-garden (biodiversity)

Younger children, the first years of primary school and kindergartens:

make a poster of the children’s guesses before going out to the garden;
look for creatures and examine them under a microscope or magnifying glass; set up a terrarium;
handle them (a snail, a caterpillar, an earthworm);
look up information in books and online;
care for the creatures while observing them: food and a suitable home;
link all the nature activities to the other areas of kindergarten activity.

LANGUAGE: finding rhymes, reading stories, learning a recitation, riddles…

SOCIETY: children learn to co-operate and solve problems, and meet different ways of communicating and passing on information (the computer).

MATHEMATICS: sorting snail shells by size, counting, measuring the distance a snail travels across glass, recording events with symbols and describing states, meeting graphs and charts, making and reading them…

ART: acting out the animals’ movements to music, learning a song, puppet animation, drawing the animals, modelling them from scented eco-dough.

MOVEMENT: time spent moving outdoors, movement games, developing fine motor skills…

When the activities are over, the creatures are returned to their natural surroundings.

Planning a vegetable and herb eco-garden

1. A mathematics lesson in year 5 of primary school

Geometry and measurement: perimeter and area (in our case, of the plot)

pupils measure in a given unit,
estimate the result,
calculate the perimeter and area of the plot,
mark out the space and divide it into beds.

2. Kindergarten (age group 2–3)

Together with the children we would:

observe the plants;
describe the leaves of each plant;
describe the shape of the plant;
smell them;
pick them and prepare them for drying;
make a drink from the fresh plants.

3. A social care institution (people with severe intellectual disabilities)

Together with the residents we would:

watch different plants grow;
compare two plants by touch (chives and mint);
taste the leaves of both;
smell the leaves.

From the two plants we would make something good to eat and drink: a chive spread and a mint tea.

Thematic and project-based approach

Below are some examples of topics we developed together with you in our workshops.

Particular credit goes to the Ankaran branch of Dr Aleš Bebler – Primož Hrvatini Primary School, which prepared an example of a project-based approach to raising silkworms.

Raising the silkworm, Bombyx mori (pdf, in Slovenian)

Bringing a chosen herb into the curriculum

At the autumn seminar, teachers and kindergarten staff worked in groups to outline their own “Herb” project and present it. They considered and wrote down how they would bring the chosen herb into teaching, how they would introduce it as fully as possible to children of different ages, and how they would involve the school’s various staff. We called this mini-project the “HERB” Project.

In outlining the project the teachers answered the following questions:

Choice of herb
A complete plan for getting to know and investigating the herb:
- Where and how will we learn about the herb’s growth and development, its scent, taste and uses?
- Whom will we involve (in which subjects and on which activity days during the school year will the herb be covered)?
Informing the public and involving the wider local community:
- How will we report on the project’s activities and events within the school and to the wider public (the local community, parents and grandparents)?
- Can we involve the local community in other ways that would help us in our work with the children?

The links below lead to outline projects prepared by teachers for bringing various herbs into teaching at different ages (kindergarten, primary and secondary school). The documents are in Slovenian:

Basil (kindergarten, primary school)

Lemon balm (kindergarten, kindergarten)

Mint (primary school)

Marigold (kindergarten, primary school, secondary school)

Rosemary (primary school)

Lavender (kindergarten, kindergarten, primary school, primary school, primary school)

Thyme (primary school)

Nettle (primary school)

Compost: from collecting waste to making compost and using it in the garden

Mathematics

drawing up a plan for building compost bins (three of different sizes);
calculating how much material is needed to build a compost bin;
later, calculating area and volume.

Design and technology

building and siting the compost bin.

Home economics

separating waste.

Science

soil and decomposition (three bins, three composts at different stages);
soil creatures;
plant organs, roots, minerals;
fertilising and why it matters.

Chemistry

substances in soil;
soil is a mixture…

Slovenian language

imaginative writing: “I am an apple core”, “I, the compost bin”…

Physical education

building strength: raking mown and dried grass;
turning the compost heap;
pushing a wheelbarrow.

Planning a healthy fruit eco-garden

A science day on the theme “How do we harvest and use the crop?”.

The science day would be held for all pupils.
Pupils on an adapted programme: enjoying processed fruit at the table (apricot spread).

Younger years: picking the crop in our fruit garden, sorting it and removing dead material (composting).

Subject teaching years:

Chemistry: alcoholic fermentation (making fruit juice and demonstrating fermentation).
Biology: sorting different kinds of fruit; plant classification.
Home economics: processing fruit — making jam and compotes, and drying fruit.
Technology: making gift bags for the processed fruit.
Art: designing labels for the jam and compote jars.
Music: making instruments from the seeds of the picked fruit.
Mathematics: weighing and counting the crop, comparing, and the ratios between sugar, fruit and jam.
Physics: measuring the volume and mass of the jam produced.
Geography: where the fruit species come from.
History: discovering old recipes that people once used and enjoyed.
English: finding recipes in English and trying them out.
Slovenian language: the symbolic meaning of fruit, and proverbs about it.
Physical education: circuit training with stops at individual trees; helping the younger pupils bring in the crop beforehand.

The day would end with a tasting and an exhibition of fresh and processed fruit.

Managing water in the school eco-garden — using rainwater

In a design and technology lesson on ecology, year 8 pupils would come out to the eco-garden with their teacher and discuss using rainwater in the garden:

first the rainwater has to be caught in suitable containers;
it matters which surfaces (roofs) the rainwater is collected from;
the shape and size of the containers and where they stand all matter.

For the rest of the lesson the pupils and teacher would draw up an outline plan for collecting rainwater.

The school would obtain a rain gauge from the meteorological service.

Pupils, teachers and caretakers would build the collection system and containers together; some of it the school would have to buy. With the containers the emphasis would be on units of volume (hectolitres, millimetre height markings, a base measured in square metres).
Once the water butts were in place, the pupils would:

read the rainfall from the gauge and the other containers (geography, mathematics, physics — presenting data);
calculate the volume of water in the containers (mathematics — volume, and rainfall over time as a function);
measure the hardness and pH of the collected water (chemistry);
use the water to water the garden;
watch to see whether any creature had moved in (biology).

A plant from seed to plate… and back to seed

1. Choosing the seed

We ask children from kindergarten to year 9 what they would like, reconcile it with the teacher’s plan, and then settle on the final choice. The areas involved are:

language (the Slovenian and Latin names of the plant, and correct use of capitals in plant names),
science, technology, social studies, personal development and cultural heritage (old, native seed and fruit varieties).

2. Raising seedlings: vegetables and fruit trees

All the children of the kindergarten and school can take part.

Subjects:

physics: soil temperature; light — its direction and intensity; osmotic pressure;
chemistry: measuring soil pH;
mathematics: how much seed must we buy to grow 10 tonnes of wheat, allowing for germination rate? How many hectares of land does that need (converting units)?;
science and biology: bacteria and creatures in the soil, helpful and harmful; the cambium;
personal development: raising seedlings and grafting fruit trees.

Vegetables are sown in pots and troughs.

3. Caring for the plants

This covers preparing the soil, watering, hoeing and weeding.