School Gardens and Ecovillages: Innovative Civic Ecology Educational Approaches at Schools and Universities

Abstract

To prevent further damage to the natural ecosystem, it would be necessary to produce environmental stewards capable of making knowledgeable and conscientious decisions regarding the environment. Due to renewed environmental awareness, new civic ecology educational trends, like school gardening and ecovillage projects are enjoying an intense interest. Environmental knowledge alone is not sufficient to solve conservation problems, and the role of civic ecology in solving these problems has become increasingly important. Conventional classroom learning from books, wall charts and memorization often results in youth’s negative attitudes towards environmental sciences. Environmental education researchers therefore have suggested that classroom interventions or combinations with field experiences that actively involve youth may promote pro-environmental behavior, knowledge and positive attitudes towards the environment. Research has shown that school gardens and ecovillages enhance learning, promote experiential learning, and teach environmental education and environmental dispositions. School gardens in primary and secondary education as well as undergraduate and graduate university programs connected with ecovillages cover a continuum of efforts to increase the benefits of environmental education in real world conditions backed up with hands on experience in miniature environments, where youth works in sympathy with nature. The purpose of this paper is to describe the infrastructure of school gardens and ecovillages and assess their style of learning. Furthermore the focus would be in determining, through successful case stories, what are the academic, behavioral, recreational, social, political, and environmental remediation benefits through these civic ecology experiences.