Growing Together: Open Forum

I haven't been diligent at all about measuring the impact of our school garden. If you have done this, what sort of things have you measured? What questions have you asked? Do you survey teachers on a yearly basis, too?

Thanks!

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[Lara] [Guerra]
[Science Teacher]
[The Hockaday School]
[Dallas] [Texas]
[lguerra@hockaday.org]
------------------------------

We are starting some community and school gardens here in Northern California and realizing that we will need to seek funding as we all our in-kind donations have run dry. We know the kids love them and learn a lot, but I, too, have not set specific goals or benchmarks to show growth. I would be interested to see what others are putting in place. 

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Kelly Conrad
Farm to Pantry
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-03-2024 10:33:23 AM
From: Lara Guerra
Subject: Measuring Impact of the Garden Programs / Surveys

I haven't been diligent at all about measuring the impact of our school garden. If you have done this, what sort of things have you measured? What questions have you asked? Do you survey teachers on a yearly basis, too?

Thanks!

------------------------------
[Lara] [Guerra]
[Science Teacher]
[The Hockaday School]
[Dallas] [Texas]
[lguerra@hockaday.org]
------------------------------

Hi Lara!

This is a great question. So many people involved in the school garden movement are so busy growing gardens and programs, that this piece is often overlooked or put on the back burner.

Of course tracking garden usage ( # of hours, lessons taught, volunteer hours, donations, grant funding received, kids/community engagement) are common numbers that are relatively easy to capture. 

Other things that we measure are behavioral changes. We poll teachers, parents and kids. Some examples are vegetable preference before/after a tasting, fruit/veg consumption each day, how kids feel when they come to the garden vs after they come, are some things to consider. 

We also capture statements from stakeholders (parents/teachers/kids/admin). What is the value of garden based learning? ( What impact does the garden have on students learning, food choices, environmental awareness, etc. ) For kids we use t charts, chart paper, post its, tally marks to grab quick info.  What do you like about the garden? Do lessons from the garden help you in class? Do you eat healthier since you have learned to grow food? Why is a garden important in school? These are powerful, especially when coming from children. 

On January 10th at 2pm or 7pm central, the Texas Children in Nature Network is meeting to discuss Environmental Education - Measuring Impacts for Growth. I plan on attending to refresh my plan and learn some new ideas for capturing data.  Here is the link. https://texaschildreninnaturenetwork.ticketleap.com/environmental-education---measuring-impacts-for-growth/

Happy New Year! Happy Gardening! Happy Data Collecting!

Kim

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Kim Aman
Grow Garden Grow
Dallas TX
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-03-2024 10:33:23 AM
From: Lara Guerra
Subject: Measuring Impact of the Garden Programs / Surveys

I haven't been diligent at all about measuring the impact of our school garden. If you have done this, what sort of things have you measured? What questions have you asked? Do you survey teachers on a yearly basis, too?

Thanks!

------------------------------
[Lara] [Guerra]
[Science Teacher]
[The Hockaday School]
[Dallas] [Texas]
[lguerra@hockaday.org]
------------------------------

Thank you for your suggestions.  I support 200 schools in our county through our Get2Green environmental stewardship initiative.  Many of our schools have edible gardens in a variety of stages of development and usage.  We are always looking for ways to capture data across a range of stewardship activities but I would like to create an quick and easy way for schools to keep track of their data for a variety of reasons including for grant applications.  I have found that data collection is important for admin buy-in and for keeping a history of the garden to pass on to newcomers to help keep the program sustainable.  I encourage schools to make recordkeeping a regular part of their program for the reasons mentioned and we emphasize this in any professional development that we offer on gardening. It is an important component that is often overlooked.

I agree with the comments of limiting the burden on school staff participating in surveys but I do think having a mechanism to collect data on a school by school basis is important.  Get2Green does send out an annual survey that addresses all environmental stewardship and outdoor learning activities once a year. If schools are collecting their own data there is a way to capture some of it this way.

In the school garden that I oversaw when I was at one school, students played a role in this by having someone assigned to document garden activities an take photographs that we collected in a journal.  At the end of the season we created a slide presentation of all that had happened in the garden that year. of We wound up with an impressive history of our school garden through the years.

I would be interested in hearing more about how others have approached this along with being part of an ongoing discussion.

------------------------------
Karen Taylor
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-03-2024 12:17:17 PM
From: Kim Aman
Subject: Measuring Impact of the Garden Programs / Surveys

Hi Lara!

This is a great question. So many people involved in the school garden movement are so busy growing gardens and programs, that this piece is often overlooked or put on the back burner.

Of course tracking garden usage ( # of hours, lessons taught, volunteer hours, donations, grant funding received, kids/community engagement) are common numbers that are relatively easy to capture. 

Other things that we measure are behavioral changes. We poll teachers, parents and kids. Some examples are vegetable preference before/after a tasting, fruit/veg consumption each day, how kids feel when they come to the garden vs after they come, are some things to consider. 

We also capture statements from stakeholders (parents/teachers/kids/admin). What is the value of garden based learning? ( What impact does the garden have on students learning, food choices, environmental awareness, etc. ) For kids we use t charts, chart paper, post its, tally marks to grab quick info.  What do you like about the garden? Do lessons from the garden help you in class? Do you eat healthier since you have learned to grow food? Why is a garden important in school? These are powerful, especially when coming from children. 

On January 10th at 2pm or 7pm central, the Texas Children in Nature Network is meeting to discuss Environmental Education - Measuring Impacts for Growth. I plan on attending to refresh my plan and learn some new ideas for capturing data.  Here is the link. https://texaschildreninnaturenetwork.ticketleap.com/environmental-education---measuring-impacts-for-growth/

Happy New Year! Happy Gardening! Happy Data Collecting!

Kim

------------------------------
Kim Aman
Grow Garden Grow
Dallas TX

Original Message:
Sent: 01-03-2024 10:33:23 AM
From: Lara Guerra
Subject: Measuring Impact of the Garden Programs / Surveys

I haven't been diligent at all about measuring the impact of our school garden. If you have done this, what sort of things have you measured? What questions have you asked? Do you survey teachers on a yearly basis, too?

Thanks!

------------------------------
[Lara] [Guerra]
[Science Teacher]
[The Hockaday School]
[Dallas] [Texas]
[lguerra@hockaday.org]
------------------------------

This is a great question! I'm an Extension Coordinator under SNAP-Ed and my main projects focus on Farm to School/Community activities, we have a large project we help to implement, coordinate, support grant-writing, etc. I haven't completed the necessary surveys, analysis, documentation of impact, etc. I'm trying to work on that piece now. If others have recommendations for project management apps other than excel, I'd like to hear have you gather all of this information to share in one place, we try not to use google sheets. 

Since we're only on-site to document the garden once a week, we don't record the daily impact. If I can create an easy to use system for all educators to use in the garden space on a daily basis, that would be ideal!

------------------------------
[Kathleen] [Lodahl]
[WSUExtension Coordinator SNAP-Ed]
[Washington State University]
[Kennwick] [WA]
[she/her]Kathleen
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-03-2024 10:33:23 AM
From: Lara Guerra
Subject: Measuring Impact of the Garden Programs / Surveys

I haven't been diligent at all about measuring the impact of our school garden. If you have done this, what sort of things have you measured? What questions have you asked? Do you survey teachers on a yearly basis, too?

Thanks!

------------------------------
[Lara] [Guerra]
[Science Teacher]
[The Hockaday School]
[Dallas] [Texas]
[lguerra@hockaday.org]
------------------------------

Annually I track the "easy" data: # of students/# of classrooms participating in garden-based learning, # of garden lessons, # of garden/farm field trips on a spreadsheet. I also keep a spreadsheet of "Garden Testimonials" -- when I get an email or phone call or have a conversation with a student/teacher/parent/guardian/community member and something positive is said about the garden program/garden learning, I jot the quote down on the spreadsheet. These data are useful for sharing with stakeholders/funders. (I don't attribute any quotes without permission.) We try to take photos (no faces/identifiers) throughout the year -- grantors love photos -- but this is tough because we are always busy teaching with hands covered in soil. I also issue an end-of-year Google Form (questionnaire) to teachers to gather data and other feedback.

During relevant lessons we also collect data, albeit much more informally. For example, in a kindergarten lesson about roots, in which students have an opportunity to taste a fresh carrot, we do a thumbs up/thumbs down/thumbs in the middle "survey" beforehand (asking students if they like the taste of carrots or have ever tried a raw carrot), then follow that up with another "survey" after they have tasted the carrot. We jot the responses down before and after which gives a sense of any shifts of attitudes/willingness to try. Not data that would survive an NSF review, but it is helpful all the same!

------------------------------
Jen Reese (she/her)
Science & Garden Coordinator
Amherst & Pelham Public Schools
Amherst, MA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-03-2024 10:33:23 AM
From: Lara Guerra
Subject: Measuring Impact of the Garden Programs / Surveys

I haven't been diligent at all about measuring the impact of our school garden. If you have done this, what sort of things have you measured? What questions have you asked? Do you survey teachers on a yearly basis, too?

Thanks!

------------------------------
[Lara] [Guerra]
[Science Teacher]
[The Hockaday School]
[Dallas] [Texas]
[lguerra@hockaday.org]
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 1/4/2024 11:40:00 AM
From: Jennifer Reese
Subject: RE: Measuring Impact of the Garden Programs / Surveys

Annually I track the "easy" data: # of students/# of classrooms participating in garden-based learning, # of garden lessons, # of garden/farm field trips on a spreadsheet. I also keep a spreadsheet of "Garden Testimonials" -- when I get an email or phone call or have a conversation with a student/teacher/parent/guardian/community member and something positive is said about the garden program/garden learning, I jot the quote down on the spreadsheet. These data are useful for sharing with stakeholders/funders. (I don't attribute any quotes without permission.) We try to take photos (no faces/identifiers) throughout the year -- grantors love photos -- but this is tough because we are always busy teaching with hands covered in soil. I also issue an end-of-year Google Form (questionnaire) to teachers to gather data and other feedback.

During relevant lessons we also collect data, albeit much more informally. For example, in a kindergarten lesson about roots, in which students have an opportunity to taste a fresh carrot, we do a thumbs up/thumbs down/thumbs in the middle "survey" beforehand (asking students if they like the taste of carrots or have ever tried a raw carrot), then follow that up with another "survey" after they have tasted the carrot. We jot the responses down before and after which gives a sense of any shifts of attitudes/willingness to try. Not data that would survive an NSF review, but it is helpful all the same!

------------------------------
Jen Reese (she/her)
Science & Garden Coordinator
Amherst & Pelham Public Schools
Amherst, MA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-03-2024 10:33:23 AM
From: Lara Guerra
Subject: Measuring Impact of the Garden Programs / Surveys

I haven't been diligent at all about measuring the impact of our school garden. If you have done this, what sort of things have you measured? What questions have you asked? Do you survey teachers on a yearly basis, too?

Thanks!

------------------------------
[Lara] [Guerra]
[Science Teacher]
[The Hockaday School]
[Dallas] [Texas]
[lguerra@hockaday.org]
------------------------------