"TRANSFORMING PRIMARY EDUCATION AND PEDAGOGY – THE CASE OF SCHOOL GARDENS IN DENMARK"

School gardens spreading across Europe can make an important contribution to the transformation of primary education. The dissemination of school gardens in Denmark is a result of trends in urban farming and a farm-to-table and gastronomy focus in the country combined with a recent school reform. It is supported by an evaluation from 2011 of the gastronomic school garden program, Gardens for Bellies, which showed positive effects on children’s food knowledge and ecological literacy. This new research study investigates the pedagogy in new school garden set-ups as well as the effects on children’s learning. The research is based on qualitative, explorative studies of four different school gardens. The study investigates children’s self-perceived learning and teachers’ and garden educators’ perception of pedagogy and learning opportunities, including the integration in the curriculum. It is based on garden observations, interviews with teachers and garden educators and focus group discussions with children two months after the programs were completed .Preliminary findings show that children benefit from learning in a school garden. Not only do they feel more motivated about being taught outside, they are also better able to understand complex connections and concepts; garden-based learning is perceived to be more exciting. The students’ perceived ownership of the garden experience and harvest and understanding of the seed-to-table process, pollination and biodiversity leave the biggest impressions on the children afterwards. New ways of organizing school gardens open up opportunities for involving teachers more, integrating the learning back in the school and bringing about innovative changes in primary education as a whole. The garden classroom and motivated educators improve children’s willingness to learn and connectedness to nature.
Keywords: school gardens, garden-based learning, innovative teaching, ecological literacy, food literacy.