“What’s that white stuff? “Roots!”
And so proceeded the conversation between two second graders at Vail Mountain School about that hidden elemental part of the plant. Despite the chilly November afternoon that existed outside, this exchange occurred in a
“What’s that white stuff? “Roots!”
And so proceeded the conversation between two second graders at Vail Mountain School about that hidden elemental part of the plant. Despite the chilly November afternoon that existed outside, this exchange occurred in a warm sunny greenhouse attached to the school. Instead of seeing a pictures in a textbook, these second graders were picking them apart, working together to gently loosen (an interesting collaborative process) the root ball of a sweet pea plant, ready for transplant in their year-round school garden. This is just a small part of their hands-on science curriculum that takes place in the greenhouse, and develops over the course of the year.
“Hands on learning in a natural environment has been proven to be one of the most positive and impactful activities for student learning. Whether incorporated in a school garden, field trip, or a greenhouse, it’s been proven to increase students’ engagement, attitude, knowledge retention, and overall performance. It is one of the fastest growing trends in experiential learning.” –Craig Schiller, founder of Build to Teach, LLC
It’s become very apparent how gardening can improve kids lives both in and out of the classroom. Gardening is correlated with healthier eating and lower rates of stress and obesity. It improves academic scores, because students learn better when they can engage in a process rather than just see and hear about it, particularly in math and science.
Outdoor learning gardens are a great step to furthering kids access to gardening and food, but they’re also greatly limited. First, they’re seasonal. For 2/3 of the year in most of the US, gardens aren’t growing. They’re frosted over, unused, and life-less. Kids are back inside and school proceeds as it always has – green-less.
Secondly, a standard learning garden teaches wonderful things about the processes of plants, soil and growing, but it’s teaching ability usually ends there. Again, a wonderful first step, but what if a gardening system not only could teach about plants and gardening, but a whole host of topics like heat transfer, the mechanics of bell siphons, fish biology or sustainable energy?
Changing the game: Sustainable Greenhouses & Aquaponic Systems
Two trends are giving new meaning to the term ‘learning garden’. First, schools are incorporating solar greenhouses to allow for year-round growing. At the Vail Mountain School (VMS) in Vail CO, every week seven classes learn a myriad of topics from the greenhouse and it’s systems. Third graders are learning about symbiotic planting; 7th graders are measuring the effects of different variables on seedlings’ growth, and 9th graders are monitoring the pH of the water in an aquaponics system.
Using the greenhouse as a teaching tool
Beyond gardening, the greenhouse structure itself is a teaching tool. By creating an energy-efficient, sustainable greenhouse that relies on the natural heating powers of the sun and thermal mass, a greenhouse is much more than four walls and a roof. The VMS greenhouse, for example, utilizes passive solar design and a Ground to Air Heat Transfer system (also known as a climate battery) which uses the soil underground to store solar thermal energy for natural heating and cooling. Besides a little electricity for running fans, the solar greenhouse provides it’s own heating and cooling without any fossil fuels.
“We built our greenhouse to be more than a place to grow plants or a source of healthy food. It’s a year-round classroom where we can teach everything from basic plant life cycles to the ethical issues of the global food supply. At the end of t