This action research project began as the revitalization of inner city school grounds
through the design and construction of a school and community garden. The project's intent was
to give inner city children contact with nature as well hands-on learning experiences in all
subjects through the planting, tending and harvesting of vegetables, flowers, and native plants.
In partnership with a landscape architecture student, I involved the children, teachers, parents
and neighbours of the school in designing and planting the gardens they wanted in order to
transform a grass field into a biologically diverse environment reflective of the neighborhood
cultures and the indigenous wildlife. Our collaboration became the soil and seeds of an
ecological and cultural restoration focused on the First Nations community of the school.
People, public art, plant and animal life came together in a dynamic process of education
and community change. Inspired by John Dewey's theories of learning through doing, by the
work of his Brazilian protege Anisio Teixeira, and by the work of Paulo Freire in adult literacy
and political empowerment, this project has been inclusive of members of this culturally diverse
community of First Nations and refugee families. The physical transformation of the grounds
through First Nations architecture, sculpture and native plants has given visible proof to the
community that when everyone works together to create a vision, then cooperates to make it
happen, that vision can be realized.
My thesis follows the process itself as well as the many questions I have asked
throughout about the meaning of pedagogy, leadership, empowerment and collaboration. As an
educator with her roots in community activism and teaching for social justice, the Grandview
garden has challenged me to reexamine my roots in light of a particular cultural, social and
political context where my own vision and voice needed to blend harmoniously with the diverse
visions and voices of many others.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/10727 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Pevec, Ilene Susan |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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