Learning and Teaching

The gardens are places for impromptu learning and flashes of imagination, but they are also an outgrowth of an organized body of knowledge that underlies all the planned activities.

The CACGP offers opportunities to experience the sense of pride and achievement that comes from doing work well, plus the knowledge and belief that they are able to change a part of their everyday world, to set goals, and accomplish them, and to understand the feeling of good health through nutrition. The garden project teaches children about growing food, health, and the environment. It involves the students in all aspects of farming the garden--along with preparing, serving and eating what they grow. Children need to know that they play a role in the protection and preservation of their environment and can be responsible for their own health. The garden as a learning setting also fills a gap in the education of our children. In recent years, the emphasis on school standards, PACT test (and now PAS test) scores have made it continually more difficult for teachers to include time for informal "hands-on" learning experiences in the school day. In the gardens, children observe, inquire, experiment, collect data, wonder, and employ all their senses in exploring an intricate place. Garden sessions teach the origins of food, and respect for all living systems. Students' learn by participating in a community that recognizes the interconnectedness of all living systems. Gardens are linked to student's science, math, and humanities curriculum through key concepts of community, sustainability, diversity, responsibility, networks, systems, & cycles - from the simple life cycle of a plant to the extraordinary nitrogen cycle, to intricate webs of relationships, both social and biological.