Gardens in today’s schools. A sign of educational backwardness, or progress? Cover Image

Ogrody szkolne we współczesnej szkole. Znak edukacyjnego zacofania, a może jednak postępu?
Gardens in today’s schools. A sign of educational backwardness, or progress?

Author(s): Ryszard Kowalski, Edward Grott
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Education
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie
Keywords: school gardens; environmental education; school; curriculum; student

Summary/Abstract: This article looks at school gardens and their importance in the environmental education of children and young people at all levels, including elementary, junior and senior high schools. The authors raise the question as to whether, in today’s information-driven world, schools should continue to teach biology using natural samples such as the plants and animals available in the school garden, or whether they can be replaced by electronic means (e.g. a computer application), without negatively affecting eduacational quality. In answering this question, they come down resoundingly in favour of retaining the school garden as an essential and fundamental educational tool, which will never lose its relevance and use in the teaching of science. The authors suggest readdressing the existing definition of what a school garden is, so that all teachers will come to understand that, regardless of whether the school is located in an urban environment or in the countryside, its natural environment can always be used in teaching of biology and nature sciences and should therefore be defined as a school garden.

  • Issue Year: 13/2015
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 35-60
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: Polish