Andrew Noune

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hernandez, Sarah

Keywords

Gardening, Horticulture, Education, Public, Elementary, Teaching, Schools, Agriculture, Food Production

Area of Concentration

Sociology

Abstract

In an attempt to explore ways that the educational system can encourage an understanding of food production systems and their effect on the environment and human health, I explore the components of edible school gardening programs. Eight public elementary school programs in a county in southwest Florida were studied by interviewing the facilitating teachers and observing in-class activities. Components related to horticultural procedures, academic connections, and students' home life were identified and analyzed. The findings of this research suggest that in-ground school gardens are likely to contain more horticultural components and academic connections than earth box or hydroponic gardens. Therefore, in-ground gardens are the best approach for raising awareness of food production systems. Furthermore, Horticulture teachers were found to be able to reach more children and to present gardening in a formal manner. This research also suggests that operating a school garden requires extra resources to which many schools do not have access

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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