Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios
Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Granting Institution
Lynn University
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EDD)
Degree Program
Educational Leadership
Department
College of Education
First Advisor
Adam Kosnitzky
Second Advisor
William Leary
Third Advisor
Valerie Storey
Abstract
The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of school-garden programs in three specific sights in Palm Beach County Florida. This study was designed to guide the development of a “curriculum model” for Garden Based Education (GBE) in School Settings. The justification was due to the fact that; there is a lack of GBE curriculum serving Palm Beach County. Schools are not held accountable to teach environmental education, as there are no Florida standards in the area of eco-literacy and sustainability.
A theoretically-constructivist, conceptual framework for developing and evaluating behaviorally based, school-garden programs, was designed. Data collection methods for this study included the triangulation of online surveys, participant interviews, and field observations. The researcher used grounded theory, focusing on axial coding, to address themes related to environmental awareness, nutrition and academic enhancement. This allowed there to be naturalistic generalization throughout the case study.
The findings revealed that teacher’s perceptions of Garden Based Education (GBE) are positive and essential in the integrated systemic interventions within an identified triad of domains. The strongest areas of perception with regard to academic enhancement lay in social studies and science. However, the findings stressed that teachers lacked sufficient professional development and time to utilize the GBE models.
Recommended Citation
Tinker, J. E. (2012). Investigating Teacher Perceptions on School Gardening Programs [Doctoral dissertation, Lynn University]. SPIRAL. https://spiral.lynn.edu/etds/311
