The beginning of work on school gardens in Norway – Andreas M. Feragen's garden in Holt on Agder

This paper recounts the beginnings of the School Gardening Movement in Norway, which is now (in 2021) a topic of great interest throughout the country. The famous 19th-century school teacher and reformist Andreas M. Feragen (1818–1912), who retired from his teaching position at the age of 93, was the first to argue, in the late 1850s and early 1860s, for including gardening both as a subject and as a practical activity in primary schools. A widely used reader first published in 1863 included four pieces by Feragen about different types of gardens which would be appropriate for a rural school: the first piece was about the garden in general, the following three described a kitchen garden, a fruit garden, and a flower garden. These four pieces were written in the form of a story about a teacher and his students strolling around the gardens discussing what they saw and how to grow vegetables, fruit trees and fruit bushes, and flowers. Feragen followed up these pieces with an article in the teachers’ journal Den norske Folkeskole [The Norwegian Primary School] in which he argued that basic gardening knowledge ought to be included in the teacher training curriculum. School gardening in Norway started with Feragen’s own gardens surrounding his school in Holt in Agder, clearly the very gardens he described in his pieces in the reader.

School Garden Benefits: Health Promotion and Environmental Conservation

Garden-based learning promotes environmental awareness, health, and wellness across the school community and beyond. In this article, we review the literature on the benefits of school gardening and describe firsthand experiences for garden success. By sharing lessons learned, our aim is to inspire school nurses to join forces with like-minded teachers and staff or take the lead to build capacity in their school for gardening and a green culture dedicated to the conservation of natural resources.

School Gardening: What is Current Trend about?

There is plenty of research on school gardening practices reflecting the positive effects of garden-based learning on the development of elementary school students, which are mainly based on short-term gardening program implementation and assessment. However, theoretical research of school gardening is still not shaped well, as the distribution of research activities is unequal and the concept itself is still considered being innovative. A review of scientific literature and documents has been done to define what the school gardening concept really means and what are the spatial and functional domains of it. The review has touched on historical aspects of the school gardening movement’s rise at the beginning of the 20th century in the U.S., as the country considered being at the frontiers of the current trend. Differences in defining school gardening priorities were identified, pointing out the variety of functional domains of school gardening activities developed during the century. Currently, school gardening is characterized by its role in improving students’ learning and achievements, environmental attitudes, health and food behaviours, intrapersonal skills and emotional wellbeing, and social bonds. Also, as the term “school gardening” itself refers to a specific place-based setting, its spatial domain was inspected and redefined according to the variety of current garden-based learning practices. The review allowed to define school gardening as a school-run and community-supported tool for student engagement with school curriculum, civic activism, healthy lifestyle, and development of intrapersonal and social skills through experiential, experimental, transdisciplinary, collaborative, and self-directed learning.

Šolski vrtovi v Pomurski regiji

School-based learning has a long tradition in Slovenia and is now a globally recognized movement. We present the operation of school gardens in the most agricultural region of Slovenia, the Pomurje region, and their inclusion in the pedagogical process of science subjects. Half (19 out of 38) of the primary schools in Pomurje have school gardens. The decision to establish a school garden depends on the good will of the school management and the voluntary interest of the teachers. It would be necessary to include school gardening in science curricula. Garden-related activities contribute to the development of Pomurje as an important agricultural region.

Use of Gardening Programs as an Intervention to Increase Children’s Visual-motor Integration

Visual-motor integration is influential in childhood development. Historical anecdotal evidence supports gardening as aiding in children’s development of fine and gross motor skills. The main objective of this study was to examine the effect of a school gardening program on children’s development of visual-motor integration. Preschool children ages 2 to 6 years old enrolled in private tuition-based schools were included in the sample. For 6 months, control group students studied using a traditional school curriculum whereas treatment group students participated in gardening as part of their lessons. The Beery-Buktenica visual-motor integration short-form instrument was used to quantitatively measure students’ levels of visual-motor integration. No significant differences were found in overall comparisons between the treatment and control group students. However, in demographic comparisons, significance was found; standardized scores for males in the treatment group improved whereas scores for males in the control group decreased. Results indicated that male preschoolers may respond especially well to gardening programs in the classroom in developing visual-motor integration.

Is School Gardening Combined with Physical Activity Intervention Effective for Improving Childhood Obesity? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

School gardening activities (SGA) combined with physical activities (PA) may improve childhood dietary intake and prevent overweight and obesity. This study aims to evaluate the effect of SGA combined with PA on children’s dietary intake and anthropometric outcomes. We searched studies containing randomized controlled trials up to January 2021 in Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and the EBSCO database on this topic for children aged 7 to 12 years. Fourteen studies met the requirements for meta-analysis (n = 9187). We found that SGA has no obvious effect on improving children’s BMI (WMD = −0.49; p = 0.085; I2 = 86.3%), BMI z-score (WMD = −0.12; p = 0.235; I2 = 63.0%), and WC (WMD = −0.98; p = 0.05; I2 = 72.9%). SGA can effectively improve children’s FVs (WMD = 0.59, p = 0.003, I2 = 95.3%). SGA combined with PA can significantly increase children’s FVs but cannot greatly improve weight status. Although more studies on this topic are needed to prove the effectiveness of this method, the results of our review show that both SGA and SGA combined with PA has a modest but positive impact of reducing BMI and WC outcomes but can significantly increase children’s FVs.

Intervention mapping as a framework for planning the implementation of urine diversion toilets and Ecosan education in a community school in Kavre, Nepal

Use of human excreta as fertilizer is not a new concept. However, with the use of the modern water-flush toilet, human excreta becomes mixed with water and causes environmental pollution. To reemphasize the nutritional value of human urine in the field, a urine diversion toilet was constructed in a community school situated in Kavre, Nepal. The purpose of establishing the urine diversion toilet is to improve hygiene outcomes through promoting proper sanitation and transforming the school community’s regular practice and attitudes towards urine as a resource. To ensure effective implementation of the urine diversion toilets, intervention mapping was used as a guiding framework. The aim of this paper is to document how the urine diversion toilet was planned and implemented in the school and how the urine diversion toilet was connected with the curriculum to address concerns regarding water, sanitation, and hygiene with a focus on sustainability through intervention mapping. This study highlights the benefits of intervention mapping as a systematic and step-by-step process for the planning and implementation of the urine diversion toilet. This study also highlights the benefits of connecting urine diversion toilets with school gardening, and engaging with local government and other stakeholders about the value of the approach.

Identification of Needs of Community Schools of Kavre, Nepal for Educational Improvement

Needs assessment is a method to find out the current needs of the school that can be considered for providing quality education to the students. This paper presents the needs of five community schools intending to bring changes in the school community. Thus, this paper aims to identify the needs of the five community schools of Kavre, Nepal, and recommend possible interventions. In-depth interviews, observations, and focus group discussions with different stakeholders provided rich data for this study. School-specific needs were identified from the data based on which recommendations are made for intervention, which are: Teacher professional development, contextualized curriculum, use of technology, and development of school gardening and urine diverting toilet, which would ultimately help to improve education fulfilling the fourth goal of sustainable development.