Garden Learning Engagement
Now that you’ve made a decision about your “Should We” garden question, your decision and the application of the garden method becomes much more powerful when you share it with others! It’s also important to share this information because there are many people who help care for the garden. The information you share will help their decision making, too, and how the garden will be cared for in the future. In this activity, you’ll decide on some ways to share your decision, why you think the decision is important, what future gardeners need to know about your decision, and anything they might need to keep track of or continue.
Purpose
Communicating information to other gardeners, community members, and scientists is an important skill that takes practice. When you communicate about scientific information and decisions you make in the garden, it’s important to communicate not only what you found from your investigations and research, but also your evidence (from your data analysis that can back up what you say). Documentation of process is also a critical component of sharing evidence and keeping records for gardeners to refer to later. The decisions that you and the learners made together will support the next group of youth gardeners in their decisions making.
Materials
Connections to family and community gardening knowledges and practices
Take some time to carefully consider who you want the audience for the presentations. An important part of preparing for these presentations is not only supporting your learners in preparing, but also supporting the audience. Consider sharing different kinds of questions participants can ask learners that support sensemaking, authentic to their decision-making processes, and that acknowledge learners’ intellectual leadership. For example, the audience members can ask questions such as, “Can you describe the evidence you have for your decision? What other options did you consider and why was this the best choice? If we take the action you suggest, who else could be affected by our actions–other humans, places, more-than-humans? How might this affect all of our futures?”
Learning Goals
Learners will…
- Use evidence from observations and investigations to communicate gardening “Should We” decisions.
- Take on multiple perspectives when considering decisions around the group “Should We” question that include more-than-human perspectives and future oriented perspectives.