Sustainable Foods- School Gardening

The goal of my project was to teach elementary students and even teachers the skills needed to start a school garden and also grow food at home.  To gather data for my project, I created a pre and post-test based on the information that I taught.  I created a presentation that the audience could engage in by asking questions, and getting opinions from the students.  The students were in a safe and calm environment, where they were not afraid to ask any clarifying questions without any negative put downs.  After showing the presentation, I had the students apply what they learned to grow their own lettuce that they can take home.  This data collection method was effective in a way of showing what the students knew as previous knowledge about sustainable foods, and what they learned after my presentation.

In my presentation (linked bellow), I started off by asking the students what they think plants need to survive.  Then I introduced the life cycle of a plant.  How a lettuce seed grows into a lettuce plant, for example.  I also showed the students the comparison of price between conventional store-bought lettuce, and growing your own organic lettuce.  Next, I explained the nutritional value of lettuce compared to a bag of Doritos.  This comparison was effective in showing another benefit of why we should grow and eat our own lettuce.  Lastly, I introduced to the students what the importance of growing food at home, or starting a school garden because of the immense environmental benefits.