Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN PROJECT TOPIC 1 1

Environmental Design Project Topic 1 – Learning Environment

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN PROJECT TOPIC 1 2

Environmental Design Project Topic 1 – Learning Environment

Introduction

a. Part I

A school garden can be described as an innovative teaching strategy or tool that enables

educationalists to integrate practical activities in a wide-range interdisciplinary and standards-

based lessons (Ratcliffe et al., 2011). These gardens ensure that the students get engaged by

offering them a dynamic atmosphere in which to experiment, observe, nurture, discover, and

learn. It can be further described as a learning laboratory where teachings are drawn from

realistic experiences instead of in-class examples that do not expose them to the real world. This,

therefore, allows the students to become more active in participating during the learning process.

As such, through school gardens, the students are able to gain meaningful information and

comprehend the natural environment and ecosystems. Thus, this makes them appreciate food

origins, and gain invaluable knowledge of flora and fauna in their natural habitat. At the same

time, the students learn hands-on horticultural knowledge and skills that will be useful

throughout their life.

b. Part II

School gardens have the potential to enhance the benefits that accrue to both the students,

school, and the surrounding communities. Good examples of these benefits are promotion of

healthy eating, social inclusion, active living, going green to save the ecosystem, and raising

awareness about climate change, the environment, and better farming methods (National Institute

of Wellness, 2015). Moreover, school gardens actually enhance overall academic performance

and experiential learning as earlier stated. The development of such a program to the local

kindergarten school will provide place-based education to the students as the school will play a
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pivotal role in in utilizing the community and the environment to boost the teaching of concepts

to the young children (Ozer, 2007). Therefore, establishing a garden within the school premises

can teach the students about their position in the natural world and it will expose them, at their

tender age, to the natural ecosystem. The broader sense of this project is that it will enhance a

sense of belonging that will be developed through incorporating the school into the surrounding

local communities. This can possibly lead to development of affirmative relationships as well as

elevate social competence among the young students.

Area Selected to be designed

Open spaces that are located between buildings within the school environment that act as

enjoinment of the surrounding environment offer a sense of direction to students as it assimilates

and organizes different elements and places. Also, these spaces can offer an aesthetic sense

through creating attractive visual and creative surroundings. It is important to note that, in a

learning environment, outdoor activities lead to the development of creative and innovative

ideas, away from classroom sessions and discussions (Bradley, Waliczek, & Zajicek, 2001). The

natural scenery created by a school garden makes the learners to feel relaxed and it also

encourages impromptu interactions and discussions among the students. Furthermore, open

spaces provided by school gardens provide fresh air to stressed students after classroom sessions

(Dyment, 2005). In this sense, designing a school garden is far beyond only providing a place for

students to study, as it should also be a place that serves the broader mental needs of the young

learners.

The two roles of a school garden – environmental enhancement and social interaction –

are mutually enforcing. The way to design a school garden in order to eliminate students’ stress

and to foster healthy schooling life is through identifying the best spaces that will promote their
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interaction with their natural environment (Bradley, Waliczek, & Zajicek, 2001). Green design is

the best one for the kindergartens since the young learners need to experience the natural

environment as they grow through the schooling system. There are numerous design concepts

that can be implemented in a kindergarten setting and a framework needs to be developed to

ensure that planning and designing of the school garden ensures that it takes into account the

psychological and physical needs of the young learners.

The People Who Will Use the Space

School gardens are developed by a group of support network that involves many

participants. This implies that garden programs are normally more work than one individual can

sustain. Considering that the garden is to be used by young learners, many people are involved in

running it. The parents, teachers, and the community at large are part of developing the garden,

which means that they will also use it (Ratcliffe et al., 2011). The role of the teachers in the

development of the garden is crucial since they are valuable contributors. This is because they

have a firm understanding of how to integrate these gardens with the school curriculum. Also,

they know all their students well and have access to the school facilities as well as supplies.

Moreover, it is more important to approach the garden as a teaching team.

Activities that will take place in the space

Academic achievement is usually the main focus of educators and parents. Their primary

objective is to ensure that students achieve at satisfactory levels as defined by the national

standards. However, all lessons must complement the required standards to merit the utilization

of classroom time for the students (Ratcliffe et al., 2011). A school garden, therefore is a perfect

tool to provide practical experience for any scholarly subject. The subjects that are mostly linked

to school gardens is science and environmental education. Most of the teachers in kindergartens
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use the school gardens as a laboratory to introduce their students to scientific methods via plant-

related experiences conducted in the gardens. Also, a school garden offers an opportunity for the

students to study weather and how it affects the environments and the ecosystem at large

(National Wellness Institute, 2015). Moreover, the students are able to familiarize themselves

with insects, soil, and other environment-related matters while they are still young. In fact, a

school garden is the ideal habitat model for learning about ecosystem.

Real-life experiences concerning gardening contribute a lot to student’s understanding

and retention of the contemporary scientific knowledge. In fact, their participation in gardening

activities in school ensures that they improve their performance in class, as earlier noted. Apart

from science, the garden provides a perfect atmosphere for the teachers to teach the students

mathematics, visual arts, language, and performing arts. Beyond academics, the garden also

provides the children with a wide range of life lessons that includes how to manage a healthy

lifestyle (Ozer, 2007). Currently, the world is experiencing increased cases of obesity among

young children, which has so far become common to most countries. Also, the increase of

weight-related illnesses among young children has become chronic and the need for prevention

through such initiatives as school gardens has become crucial.

Garden programs work to curb the issue of unhealthy lifestyles brought about by the

modern life by ensuring the children are taught about the importance of healthy lifestyles that

include the relevance of physical activity and appropriate nutrition (Dyment, 2005). Through the

garden programs at kindergartens, the students are able to gain first-hand information and

knowledge concerning where fruits and vegetables come from since most of them at a young age

think that these products magically appear at the grocery stores. Adopting a healthy lifestyle is

more than just eating right, as the students are taught that physical exercise outdoor is also
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crucial. As such, the garden offers a wide array of physical activities to the children through

planting, digging, weeding, raking, and harvesting (National Wellness Institute, 2015). Thus, this

makes them physically active in a world where technology has taken up the outdoor activities

that make children healthy. These gardening activities are often fascinating to the young learners

that they do not even realize that they exercising.

Additionally, a school garden is a powerful tool for environmental education since it

ensures that, by participating in gardening activities, they become responsible caretakers

throughout their lives. Here, they have an opportunity to take part in small scale agricultural

practices, which make them learn about the responsibilities and impacts of agriculture. They also

explore the network of interactions between the living and non-living aspects of life. Thus, they

are able to understand the complex nature of the world (Ozer, 2007). Also, gardens are good

places to teach the students on the importance of waste reduction through composting and using

the compost as manure in the gardens. Through these activities the students are able to establish a

connection with nature at a tender age. According to researchers, the early childhood experience

have been linked to future adult attitudes and psychological reactions towards nature. Therefore,

early childhood participation in gardening activities is the most crucial influence on future adult

actions and attitudes to the environment.

Theoretical Perspectives and Research

While there are numerous benefits of school gardens on children, more research

specifically comment on the impacts it has on childhood education. School gardens, as

mentioned earlier, cover a wide range of school subjects that assist the students to gain empirical

experience. Through these programs, researchers have found out that it leads to increased

attitudes towards school and learning in general (Ratcliffe et al., 2011). By making the students
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to feel mentally relaxed and engaging them in physical exercises, most of these students have

better cognitive development as compared to the ones that only learn in classrooms. Thus, the

benefits of school gardening are not only limited to education performance, but also has various

psychological benefits. Many studies that have been conducted on the importance of initiating

school gardens or open spaces in schools have posited that it improves cognitive function among

students as a result of participating in the gardening activities and being in direct contact with

nature.

According to Ozer (2007), gender and grade are the main influential factors affecting the

impacts and benefits of school gardens on early childhood education. Concerning gender, the

study found that many of the appealing effects of these gardens on children were critically more

prevalent among the female students as opposed to males. However, it should be noted that

schools that allow the students to be more independent when participating in the gardening

activities have greater positive psychological impacts among the students as compared to schools

that do not have school garden programs. Emotionally, students who take part in gardening enjoy

their time in school and are more interested in learning than the students who do not participate.

This indicates that school gardens have an effect on the interpersonal relationships, which are the

crucial factors that influence social wellness of a child (National Wellness Institute, 2015).

From an intellectual perspective, students usually learn various life skills and subjects

while participating in school gardening. Through such programs, students have low levels of

stress and they find it easy to tackle complex challenges in the classroom. Also, students are able

to learn numerous skills that places them in a better position in future when finding employment

in future. Thus, this shows that school gardens impact the future of the students in a positive way.

Most researchers in the field of early childhood education suggest that there are only positive
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effects of school gardens on children and there are no any negative effects that have ever been

reported on childhood education and well-being (Ozer, 2007). The incorporation of school

gardening into education curriculum has been observed to enhance the concept of holistic

education.

There is evidence of the influence of the choice of landscape on people’s mental and

physical health. A wide range of theories exist that explain and evaluate this relationship. One of

the most common theory that explains this phenomenon is the Healing Garden theory. This

theory believes that viewing vegetation, water, and nature in general can alleviate or reduce

stress levels in human beings (National Wellness Institute, 2015). Research further elaborates

that healing garden’s restorative effects points out the ability of elements of landscape to be

therapeutic, reducing cognitive as well as other sources of bodily stress in people. As such,

having a direct contact with nature and the environment can provide therapeutic effects and

facilitate easy learning. This explains why having school gardens in schools is crucial in ensuring

that the students have a conducive and positive environment to undertake their studies.

Even though most research about healing garden theory were conducted in a healthcare

environment, there is still more evidence that shows it is effective in a learning environment. In a

school, open spaces or gardens are a significant natural landscape for ensuring that the students

obtain a healing effect from the classroom stresses (Bradley, Waliczek, & Zajicek, 2001).

Hypothetically, school gardens can use the various features of gardens, such as green plants,

flowers, and fountains to aid in fostering restoration from cognitive fatigue and give positive

influences to the students. Studies also reveal that most students prefer being in open spaces that

have natural settings in order to soften their moods they feel depressed or fatigued (Dyment,
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2005). Therefore, it is important to note that school gardens can help the students to cope with

stress. This is because of the nature’s serenity, beauty, and other natural elements.

According to environmental psychology, architecture can also have an impact on human

health through stimulation. It further describes the choice of the designs for the school garden

since the amount of information in a space has a particular visual effect that can enhance

relaxation. According to various studies, people normally function at optimum levels under

moderate stimulation levels. Lack of such stimulation usually or too much stimulation can be

detrimental to an individual (Alexander, Hendren, & North, 1995). It is believed that an open and

informal space can stimulate a sense of creativeness and innovation. Nevertheless, the

stimulation caused by the open space should be moderate for an individual to operate normally

and optimally. Also, the space has to be flexible for the comfortability of the individual to have

social interactions. In a school set up, a well-designed open space usually creates an essential

mix of private and public space for collaborative interactions and study. Coherence in open space

is also significant to enable comprehensibility.

Conclusion

School gardens have numerous benefits to students and it should be made mandatory for

all schools offering early childhood education. Through these programs, it is evident from

research that students are able to learn relevant skills that they can use throughout their life.

Besides educational benefits, school garden or open space assists the students to develop

psychologically. The use of the garden as a tool for health education will go a long way in

impacting the students’ choices while they are in school also later in their life. Therefore, it can

be suggested that more schools across the globe should incorporate school gardening into their

curriculum in order to enhance holistic learning and development of the students. Also, a training
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module should be rolled out to assist the educators with the implementation of gardening

programs in their schools. Additionally, open spaces should not only be limited to elementary

schools, but it should be developed throughout the whole education system. For instance, many

renowned universities have already implemented open spaces and their positive effects continue

to be seen through the quality of their graduates.

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References

Alexander, J., Hendren, D.K., & North, M. (1995). Master Gardener classroom garden project:

An evaluation of the benefits to children. The Board of Regents of the University of

Colorado 12 (2), 256-263.

Bradley, J.C., Waliczek, T.M., & Zajicek, J.M. (2001). The effect of school gardens on children’s

interpersonal relationships and attitudes toward school. Hort Technology:Research

Reports 11 (3), 466-468.

Dyment, Janet, E. (2005). Green school grounds as sites for outdoor learning: Barriers and

opportunities. Taylor & Francis Online: International Research in Geographical and

Environmental Education 14 (1), 28-45.

National Wellness Institute (2015). The six dimensions of wellness. Retrieved November 16,

2015 from http://www.nationalwellness.org

Ozer, E.J. (2007). The effects of school gardens on students and schools: Conceptualization and

considerations for maximizing healthy development. Health Education & Behavior, 34

(6), 846-863.

Ratcliffe, M.M., Merrigan, K.A., Rogers, B.L., & Goldberg, J.P. (2011). The effects of school

garden experiences on middle school-aged students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors

associated with vegetable consumption. Health Promotion

Practice, 12 (1), 36-43.