Background Information for Teachers

The resources here provide information on several pertinent subjects related to school gardening including where to apply for grants, issues in land use, sustainable agriculture, and organic gardening. Plant misconceptions are highlighted as well, and an online course for you is available too.

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Junior Master Gardener http://www.jmgkids.us/

The Junior Master Gardener page contains information on grants for teachers to fund their garden project.

Grants for Schools and Youth Gardens http://www.kidsgardening.org/grants.asp

This site contains five opportunities for grants teachers can apply for to help fund their garden project. (This page is found in KidsGardening.org.) MSP full record

AAAS Atlas of Population and Environment http://atlas.aaas.org/index.php?part=2&sec=natres&sub=crops

This publication analyzes the relationships between human population and the environment. Through text, maps, and diagrams, the Atlas illustrates how population affects the world's ecosystems and natural resources both in the short and long term. The sidebar allows you to choose pertinent sections. We suggest Part Two which has sections on food crops and land use around the world. (These pages are found at http://atlas.aaas.org.) MSP full record

Toward a Sustainable Agriculture http://www.cias.wisc.edu/curriculum/modI/index.htm

In parts A and B of the learning module at this site, the teacher can quickly obtain quality information regarding the concept of sustainable agriculture and how it compares and contrasts with organic gardening. The module is designed for high school students, so you may choose to modify it for use with your students.

Organic Gardening http://www.organicgardening.org.uk/guidelines/contents.php

This site covers the gambit of organic gardening, in not too much detail though. Each of the various aspects of organic gardening has its own page. We recommend these three pages to get you started: soil management, pest and disease management, and weed control.

Plant Content in the National Science Education Standards by David R. Hershey http://www.actionbioscience.org/education/hershey2.html

Hershey reminds teachers of the influence they have on student learning and their responsibility to address existing student misconceptions while consciously avoiding the creation of new misconceptions. He points out that the National Science Education Standards provide few resources for teaching about plants. Attending to his advice while engaging students in plant studies will help students develop accurate conceptual knowledge and positive attitudes toward the importance of agriculture and gardening. MSP full record

From Seed to Seed http://courses.garden.org/courses/fstsdesc.htm

This is a professional development course designed for K-8 teachers who already incorporate botany and gardening (indoors or out) into their science curriculum and for teachers who would like to start doing so. Although the National Science Education Standards are emphasized throughout the course, connections are also made to geography, health, history, language arts, and mathematics. (The course is available through the National Gardening Association home page.) MSP full record

KidsGardening.org http://www.kidsgardening.org/

The KidsGardening.org site contains several links worth looking at. One is inspiring stories of other teachers' success. Another is a narrative of a cooperative group of teachers who built a garden of foods from Africa and the Middle East, and a third is the story of how students and their teacher put together a 3/4-acre garden using only organic techniques out of concern for their environment. MSP full record

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Copyright May 2007 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.