iPOINT: Growing scientists in school gardens?
For educators, business leaders, and policy makers concerned about the under-performance of US students in science and math, they might be surprised what they find during a walk through a school garden. The garden at the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, CA is a good place to start.
It is one of a handful of Edible Schoolyards, a project of the renowned chef Alice Waters, who one day saw possibilities beneath the dispiriting blacktop surrounding the King school which she walked by every day on her way to her restaurant, Chez Panisse. Today the space has become a mini neighborhood USDA lab — but edible.
This is not a return to Home Ec, as is occasionally said, or to the bondage of agrarian life. What we have here are the components of living science curriculum: Why, exactly, DO you cry when slicing onions? The conversation exploring the answer might engender enthusiasm for learning more about the nature of foods.
PS 216 in Brooklyn:a quarter-acre garden from freshly tilled macadam
Organized by Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation, the project envisions:
“a school curriculum and school lunch program where growing, cooking, and sharing food at the table gives students the knowledge and values to build a humane and sustainable future.”
In the last five years, the program established or is breaking the asphalt for five Edible Schoolyards:
- Greensboro
- Los Angeles
- New Orleans
- New York
- San Francisco
Waters and her associates have captured their lessons learned, and have created lesson plans and guidance for how to speak the language of school gardens to the school and governing leadership and neighbors in your local community. These are solid, experience-based resources if you are considering a school garden for your community.
The Edible Schoolyard Web Site