Planting Knowledge: Building a School Garden for Elementary School Students

Introduction: The school garden is a powerful educational tool that allows elementary school students to learn in a practical and interactive way about nature, healthy eating and environmental responsibility. The project seeks to promote the integral development of students, involving them in the construction and maintenance of a vegetable garden inside the school. This interdisciplinary initiative provides meaningful learning opportunities, teaching scientific concepts, social and emotional skills, and awareness of food origins. We believe that the school garden will cultivate values, ecological knowledge and a deeper connection with the environment, preparing them for a sustainable future. Objective: To provide students and the community with knowledge and awareness of issues involving the environment and citizenship, development and encouraging actions aimed at sustainable development. Through the creation of an open space for discussion and cooperation with the involvement of the school and the community, having as its main tool the construction of an Organic Vegetable Garden. Methodology: The project involved students from the 8th and 9th years of Elementary School II of the E.E. Alfredo Minervino. The institution is framed within the Integral Teaching Program (PEI), having the discipline of Elective. The elective is a weekly moment with two 45-minute classes, where professors can propose the development of projects aligned with the students' life project. In the first semester of 2023, the elective “Horticulturando” was assembled, with 35 vacancies for students. The elective was based on active methodologies in order to promote the student's protagonism and authorial production. During the period of 1 semester, the students researched on topics that involve sustainable cultivation and healthy eating so that they are able to discuss the topics covered by the discipline. In a second moment, the students collected recyclable materials at school, at home and in the community that would be discarded for use in the construction of the garden, and equipment for the same, such as vases and tools. During the making and maintenance of the vegetable garden, students were able to discuss the impacts of agroindustry and will be encouraged to seek ways to solve these problems. Results: We could see in the students' reports, after the conclusion of the elective “Horticulturando” that they continued to cultivate the vegetables that form plants in the classes and that they took to their homes, in order to continue the cultivation. Some even reported that they started to eat more legumes and vegetables, especially the ones they planted – arugula and kale. As a result for us teachers, the satisfaction was exceptional when seeing the commitment and participation of the students in the elective classes, and the good receptivity of the other students of the school, on the occasion of the culmination of the electives and finally, in the students' reports, at the end from classes. Conclusions: We can conclude that more practical elective classes, of the “hands-on” type, have been shown to be more efficient in engaging students, arousing their curiosity to learn more about the subject, to participate in practical classes, and finally , in the small but significant change in the eating habits of some students who reported having started the regular consumption of vegetables and legumes, after having attended the elective “Horticulturando”.