Commentary: School gardens promote hands-on learning
Issue Date: February 24, 2010
By Sergio de Alba
Sergio de Alba
The Atlantic, a literary and cultural commentary magazine based in Boston, recently published an article critical of school gardens called "Cultivating Failure," by Caitlin Flanagan. The article was widely distributed via the Internet, and I feel compelled to respond, to share my personal experience, both as a son of immigrant field workers and as a fourth-grade teacher who has successfully used garden-based curriculum to improve academic achievement and personal growth in my students.
My family came from Mexico and moved to California's Central Valley when I was 5.
The opportunity for children to see, touch, smell and physically connect with science and math through their work in school gardens, teacher Sergio de Alba says, proves instrumental in their comprehension of those topics.
My parents were not educated, but, as it should be, they were my greatest teachers, as their lessons to me revolved around what they knew best. My mother taught me the value of plants, the way we depend on the land for our health and how farming is connected to our history, not to mention the things I was learning in school. When I went to college and decided to become a teacher, I dreamed of helping kids learn and grow up to be successful and productive members of society.
I now teach fourth grade and raise my own young daughters in Los Banos, a midsized town in the San Joaquin Valley where 81 percent of our students are low-income. Ninety percent of my students are Hispanic, and many of their parents are employed in agriculture.
Early in my teaching career, with the support of the school administration, I decided to build a school garden, and with it, a curriculum based on state standards in order to integrate the garden into our classroom time. The garden empowers my students in the same way that the row crops outside our modest home empowered me as a child and provides a real learning experience, a tangible connection that is difficult to achieve in the classroom.
The success of California schools is indeed measured by our test scores—it's a fact of life. This fact need not remain mutually exclusive from the use of effective garden-based lessons. I am pleased to report that my students have shown marked improvement in test scores and overall grades in multiple subjects. The garden has been instrumental in their comprehension of these topics. More precious than increased book smarts, is the ability for these children to see, touch, smell and physically connect with science and math lessons, among many others.
Unlike traditional, one-dimensional textbook learning "experiences," students in schools with gardens are completely engaged. When they take the time to hold a seed, plant it and see it grow into a fruit or vegetable, they then have personal buy-in. For most of my students, this is a memory that will stay with them for life.
As teachers, we are responsible for making sure our students pass required tests, but also for making sure they have a realistic view of the world around them and to provide them with not only the skills, but the overall understanding of the way the world works. What good is the ability to decipher the amusing fragments of Shakespeare's comedies when a child thinks that raisins grow in boxes on grocery store shelves or cannot comprehend the connection between their favorite juice box and the fruit that grows on trees?
It is my hope that a more in-depth portrayal of school gardens can be brought forth in the news, one that demonstrates the positive effects and the tremendous benefits that hands-on learning in a living environment, such as a garden, can provide not only to a child's grade point average, but to their health and well-being and their overall understanding of the world around them.
(Sergio de Alba is a teacher at R.M. Miano Elementary School in Merced County and the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom's 2010 Literacy for Life Award Winner. He may be reached at SZdealba@comcast.net.)
Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item. Top