Date of Submission
Fall 2019
Academic Programs and Concentrations
Environmental and Urban Studies
Project Advisor 1
Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins
Project Advisor 2
Peter Klein
Abstract/Artist's Statement
This report uses the school garden at Mill Road Elementary in Red Hook, New York as a case study to examine if, and how, students benefit from their participation in school garden programs. Research was conducted through participant-observation of Mill Road’s garden classes as well as through interviews with administrators, teachers and community members. Identified benefits were then compared to established research on learning outcomes associated with the broader school garden movement. Mill Road’s garden was observed to be utilized as an instructional research tool to enhance and supplement common core curriculum. Garden educators were observed to utilize interdisciplinary, hands on and place-based pedagogical strategies to change the way in which standards based material is taught and learned. Students were observed to experience socio-emotional and physical health benefits through the development of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills that encourage positive self-concept and feelings of collective agency. Garden lessons were additionally observed to enhance student's understanding of "food literacy" and encourage healthy eating habits. This study contributes to an existing body of literature of school garden studies that examine how students benefit from their participation to provide insight on how to improve existing programs.
Open Access Agreement
On-Campus only
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Patsey, Emma Lee, "Seeding, Sprouting, Learning: Academic, Socio-Emotional and Physical Health Benefits of Students’ Participation in Mill Road Elementary School’s Garden Program" (2019). Senior Projects Fall 2019. 21.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_f2019/21
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.
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