ABSTRACT
This exploratory study was conducted at four childrens gardens in major botanical gardens across the United States to determine if children became more aware and knowledgeable of plants while visiting these gardens. This was determined through the childrens garden stakeholders perspectives; the stakeholders of this study were the children and parents who visited the gardens. Their views were acquired through on-site observations and interviews. The purposive sample comprised 64 participants including 40 children (19 girls and 21 boys, ages 2- 12 years). There were 18 mothers, 3 fathers, 3 grandmothers, and 1 grandfather. The 40 children were observed and 30 children were interviewed. A total of 25 parents or guardians were interviewed. This study determined that the childrens learning was contextual; i.e., influenced by the garden and participatory garden features they visited. For example, the children who visited the facilitated (by a trained volunteer) features that taught plant concepts were able to repeat and explain the lesson. However, in gardens that provided opportunities for independent exploration with natural components such as water, children made some very advanced observations about plants. This study also found that childrens previous experiences with plants heightened their awareness of plants in the childrens garden. Especially on their walks through the regular botanical garden areas to the childrens garden, many children noticed and asked questions about plants.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-01262012-001013 |
| Date | 26 January 2012 |
| Creators | Legoria, Mary Flake |
| Contributors | Blanchard, Pamela, Wandersee, James, Machtmes, Krisanna, Harms, Kyle, Cheek, Earl |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-01262012-001013/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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