Melanie Hawkins

EDCI 690

Literature Review:
Do School Gardens Improve Academics, As Well As Nutrition?

After reading Chapter 2 of Smart By Nature: Schooling for Sustainability and Chapter 8

of EcoLiterate, it became obvious what my sustainability Professional Learning module content

for my campus would be. Both of these chapters discuss the effects of poor nutrition of on

student’s daily academic lives. Schooling for Sustainability stated that “undernourished children

are more likely to be hyperactive, absent or tardy, have more behavioral problems, repeat a

grade, and require more special education and mental health services” (page. 23). These chapters

immediately resonated with me due to 100% of my students qualifying for free and/or reduced

lunch. About 95% of my students’ parents receive SNAP benefits. Also, my campus has a

higher than average number of students who receive Special Education services (most are

learning disabled or intellectually disabled), who suffer from various mental health disorders,

and have been diagnosed with ADD and ADHD and are currently taking medication. Although

we have quite a few programs that give students snacks and foods that can be taken home over

the weekend and holidays, our students don’t receive fresh fruits and vegetables through these

programs. Students are mostly given fruit cups, chips, and other highly processed foods that can

be maintained over several days to a week.

While research has shown that the implementation of a school has many benefits for

students, many campuses are still hesitant to implement gardens. Research has shown that

children with poor nutrition often suffer from behavioral problems in class. In the article

Horticulture Therapy: What are the Impacts of Gardens on Children with Behavioral Disorders,
the author suggests that horticulture (gardening) is beneficial because it helps students overcome

stress through the nurturing of plants. This study found that the therapy itself comes from the

gardening process itself, and not the actual finished product. The study found that not only does

horticulture have a “calming effect,” but it also suggested that students who participated in the

program developed content specific skills, became more self-sufficient, and showed

improvements in their self-esteem. The school garden serves as a safe place for students. A

study done by Habib and Doherty showed that a large number of students reported that they feel

calm, safe, happy, and relaxed in their school garden. (2007).

Research have also shown that there are academic benefits to students who participate in

the school gardens. Jeanne McCarty, CEO of Real School Gardens, shared “Kids are more

engaged in real world, hands-on learning, particularly at the elementary level. One campus

reported three years after getting a school garden, between 12% and 15% more children in these

schools passed standardized tests.” McCarty also reported that 94% of teachers that participate

in the program reported an overall increase in student engagement. Habib and Doherty’s

research found that of the third and fourth grade students involved in a school garden program,

“The school garden supports student inquiry, connection to the natural world, and engages

students in the process of formulating meaningful questions. (2007). In the 2005 article The

Effect of a school gardening program on the science achievement of elementary students, it

stated that “students who have a school garden program incorporated into their science

curriculum score significantly higher on science achievement tests than students who are taught

strictly in traditional classroom methods.”

Finally, the literature suggests that when students take an active role in growing the food,

they are more likely to choose those healthy foods. Children who are familiar with growing their
own food tend to eat more fruits and vegetables (Bell &Dyment, 2008). The students are also

more inclined to continue to eat healthy foods going into and throughout their adulthood (Morris

& Zidenberg-Cherr, 2002). The Denver Urban Gardens supports this theory and puts heavy

emphasis on ensuring that students have opportunities to taste the foods they grow. Denver

Urban Gardens employee, Rebecca Andruszka stated, “I think it’s just that it seems less foreign

when you’re a part of the growing process.”

American Community Gardening Association, 2009. Promoting Community Gardening Through

Research: A Survey. Community Greening Review, 41.

Bell, A. C,. & Dyment, J. E. 2008. Grounds for health: The intersection of green school grounds
and health-promoting schools. Environmental Education Research,14(1): 77-90.

Canaris, I. 1995. Growing foods for growing minds: Integrating gardening and nutrition
education into the total curriculum. Children’s Environments 12(2): 134-142.

Goleman, D., Bennett, L., & Barlow, Z. (2012). Ecoliterate: How educators are cultivating
emotional, social, and ecological intelligence. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Habib, D., & Doherty, K. 2007. Beyond the garden: Impacts of a school garden program on 3rd
and 4th graders. Seeds of Solidarity: 2-14

Morris, J., & Zidenberg-Cherr, S. 2002. Garden-enhanced nutrition curriculum improves fourth-
grade school children’s knowledge of nutrition and preference for vegetables. Journal of the
American Dietetic Association, 102(1), 91-93.

Pfleger, Paige. (2015, August 10). Healthy Eaters, Strong Minds: What School Gardens Teach
Kids. NPR Station. Retrieved from:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/10/426741473/healthy-eaters-strong-minds-what-
school-gardens-teach-kids

Stone, Michael D. and Center for Ecoliteracy, Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability
(Healdsburg, CA: Watershed Media, 2009), pp. 3–15, 122–127.

Storrs, Carina. (2015, September 28). The blossoming health and academic benefits of school
gardens. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/14/health
Robinson, C. W., & Zajicek, J. M. 2005. Growing minds: The effect of a one-year school garden
program on six constructs of life skills of elementary school children. HortTechnology 15(3):
453-457.

Skelly, S. M., & Bradley, J. C. 2000. The importance of school gardens as perceived by Florida
elementary school teachers. HortTechnology,15(3): 439-443. http://horttech.ashspublications.org