Abstract
The present paper is an attempt to assess the skills for school gardening for inquiry-based science learning of fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade basic level students of public schools. To achieve this aim, a set of questionnaires was developed to be administered to basic level students. A sample of 404 (N=388) were selected from one action and four reference schools to take part in the present study located in Chitwan and Nawalparasi districts of the Terai region of Nepal. Students from all the selected schools participated in school gardening activities as part of their science curriculum aiming at motivating inquiry-based science teaching and learning. A quantitative analysis involving the use of frequency, Chi-square test at 0.05 level of significance and phi was conducted to see the association between the variables: religion, caste, and language and gardening skills. Weighted percentages were calculated to examine the gardening skills for experiencing inquiry-based science learning. The results showed that school gardening skills were performed better (94.4%) by students belonging to Brahmin/Chhetri Hindu background than the others. The findings also showed a weak association between religious and caste/ethnicity backgrounds of the students and gardening skills. There was no statistically significant difference (α=0.05) between gardening skills of students and the religion they follow, either. Gardening enthusiasm with basic skills varies among students with different basic demographic background of students.
Highlights
Education in Nepal was long based on home schooling and Gurukul Education from the primary schools to the university level has been modeled from the very inception on the Indian system
This study explored the relationship between the language, ethnicity and religious beliefs with basic gardening skills for inquiry-based science learning integrated with garden pedagogy
Findings showed that students who follow Hinduism have relatively good gardening skills such as soil preparation, sowing the seeds in different seasons in the school garden, taking out weeds from the garden, caring and watering plants and using tools in the school garden
Summary
Education in Nepal was long based on home schooling and Gurukul Education from the primary schools to the university level has been modeled from the very inception on the Indian system. It is becoming apparent that public schools in Nepal need to educate students on basic science literacy issues since they will be the ones making future decisions. It shows the knowledge of gardening skill related to ploughing the land in the school garden to prepare soil for planting vegetables and flowers This skill seems better among Brahmin students who follow Hinduism (94.4%) and Dalit Hindus (80.5%). The skills of gardening transformed from the parents to the children This knowledge help students to understand the concepts of science which makes science performance better. There is no significance difference between the ploughing gardening skills and ethnicity and religion of students
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