Growing a green generation: designing educational gardens for schools

All over the United States, learning gardens are being installed at schools as a resource for education. The use of school gardens as a teaching platform has wavered for over a century, motivated and hindered by the demands of society and the gardens perceived effectiveness in addressing these demands. The current demands on school gardens are to fill the gap in education on health and environmental sciences. Existing research on school gardens centers around the educational and health benefits of gardens, but information on the design of these interactive learning gardens is limited. This research investigates the design and layout of existing middle school gardens in two counties in Georgia to define a general framework for designing educational gardens. The guidelines and recommendations developed through this research are then applied to two conceptual school garden plans for Hilsman Middle School in Athens, GA and Druid Hills Middle School in Decatur, GA. The goal of this research is to provide foundational design parameters for organizations and individuals seeking to develop their own school garden.