Organic Learning Gardens in Higher Education: Do They Improve Kindergarten Pre-service Teachers’ Connectedness to and Conception of Nature?

Abstract

Studies have shed light on the idea that people who have experiences in natural settings might be more aware of the environment. Learning gardens, as outdoor contexts, might contribute to the development of students' affective relations toward nature, proenvironmental attitudes, and protective actions; neverthless, these aspects begging to be explored. This preliminary research investigates the impact that the use of organic gardens to teach natural sciences at university has on kindergarten pre-service teachers' (KPST) connectedness to and conceptions of nature. The research follows a pre-/postdesign and it uses a mixed methods approach. A total of 74 students completed four quantitative scales (INS, CCC, LCN, and NR-6), and 66 of them an open question about the concept of nature. After the garden experience, students scored higher in all the scales, nevertheless the change was significant only for INS and CCC. The phenomenographic analysis evidenced an initial predominant static and non-social concept of nature, biased toward the most obvious biological elements. After the garden-based learning experience, more informed conceptions of nature-including notions of complexity and systemic character-increased from 7 to 19%; however, statistical comparison was not significant. In spite of the absence of concluding results, further research is required to assess the role that learning gardens may play regarding connectedness to nature and pro-environmental behaviors.

Ecocritical Engagement with Picturebook through Literature Conversations about Beatrice Alemagne’s On a Magical Do-Nothing Day

“…For instance, the idea of treating nature as a playground resurfaces several times in the second half of the Norwegian session. The variety of appreciations detected in this corpus matches with the diverse concepts of nature adopted by kindergarten pre-service teachers in another research, which ranged from seeing nature as a static and pristine element to a dynamic, interactive, and systemic element [38]. When students were asked to describe what they could see on the cover, they focused on the graphic features.…”

The Garden and Landscape as an Interdisciplinary Resource Between Experimental Science and Artistic–Musical Expression: Analysis of Competence Development in Student Teachers

“…The educational garden and the landscape are resources that can improve students’ perception of the complexity and systematic methods of nature ( Pérez-López et al, 2020 ). They are multidisciplinary learning spaces that include both manipulative activities ( Bredderman, 1982 ; Waliczek and Zajicek, 1999 ) and intellectual activities ( Klemmer et al, 2005 ) and facilitate the connection between scientific and artistic disciplines ( Botella and Hurtado, 2016 , 2017 ).…”

Unprepared to Deal with Invasion: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perception, Knowledge and Attitudes toward Invasive Species

“…A lower percentage of participants identified IAS as responsible for human health or economic damage, according to previous studies carried out among stakeholders [48] and university students in the US [25]. Pre-service teachers also perceived with less clarity other ecological conditions generated by IAS, which reflected an incomplete view of basic ecological processes and a poor understanding of concepts related to complex natural systems [53,54]. In general, these results showed a limited perception of IAS impacts by the students of the bachelor's degrees in early childhood and primary education, in agreement with previous studies carried out in Spain among the adult population around the Doñana National Park [6] and stakeholders in Mallorca [47].…”