Garden TOOLS - Introduction

Erin Ingram Author

01/09/2023 Added

14 Plays

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This video provides a brief introduction to the Garden TOOLS program, why it was created, and what it has to offer.

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[00:00:01.500]Hi y'all.
[00:00:03.060]I'm Erin Ingram and I'm gonna be your host
[00:00:05.640]for the Garden Tools Professional Development Series.
[00:00:08.100]I work as a community engagement coordinator
[00:00:10.478]with what's known as the Growable team
[00:00:14.100]at the University of Nebraska Lincoln's Institute of Ag
[00:00:16.440]and Natural Resources.
[00:00:18.240]I'm also the developer of this particular curriculum.
[00:00:24.420]In this video I wanna provide you with a quick introduction
[00:00:27.270]to the Garden Tools Program,
[00:00:29.820]tell you a little bit about how it got started,
[00:00:33.240]kind of what spawned it and what you can expect
[00:00:36.180]if you're gonna use it with youth.
[00:00:40.680]So first up, we learned that school garden spaces are really
[00:00:43.890]growing in popularity in 2018 along with
[00:00:47.910]a variety of partners from across the state,
[00:00:49.980]Nebraska Department events the Center for Rural Affairs
[00:00:52.530]and Farm to School Nebraska.
[00:00:55.410]We conducted a survey of Nebraska School Gardens
[00:00:59.250]to get a sense of what was out there,
[00:01:00.750]what are they being used for, those types of things.
[00:01:04.230]And some of the major findings were that 51% of the schools
[00:01:10.080]that responded currently had a garden space
[00:01:13.483]and of those 50% had been started in the last three years.
[00:01:18.210]So there's this boom of school garden growth happening.
[00:01:24.240]Other key findings that were really important
[00:01:27.750]were that technology and engineering opportunities
[00:01:30.900]in these garden spaces are currently very limited.
[00:01:34.260]We were very excited to learn that 99% of schools
[00:01:38.370]that had these school gardens were using them
[00:01:40.380]for science instruction,
[00:01:41.790]50% were using them for math instruction.
[00:01:44.310]But when it came to things like computer science
[00:01:46.800]or engineering and design thinking in these spaces,
[00:01:50.580]only 2% of schools were using it for that purpose.
[00:01:55.470]Also, professional development is wanted and needed
[00:01:58.770]by those folks working in these school garden spaces.
[00:02:01.620]81% of respondents indicated a want
[00:02:04.800]for professional development, specifically looking at
[00:02:08.130]focused on garden based instruction.
[00:02:11.490]And 57% of respondents indicated that
[00:02:14.190]in the last three years they had had
[00:02:15.540]no professional development in garden based,
[00:02:19.830]in a garden based setting at all.
[00:02:24.690]So we feel that Garden Tools was a great opportunity to fill
[00:02:28.950]a need.
[00:02:30.990]As I mentioned before, I'm with the Institute of Agriculture
[00:02:33.360]and National Resources at the University of Nebraska Lincoln
[00:02:37.200]where I'm at technology is transforming agriculture
[00:02:40.140]and natural resource sciences at a rapid pace
[00:02:43.980]and it's ever evolving.
[00:02:45.720]Educators, especially K-12 educators,
[00:02:47.910]are really going to need the resources and the training
[00:02:51.240]to introduce this idea to young students
[00:02:54.090]so that they can know what's out there and potentially
[00:02:56.610]what careers they might want to explore.
[00:03:01.080]So, a little bit about what Garden Tools is
[00:03:04.350]and what it isn't.
[00:03:05.820]There are lots of really great curriculums out there
[00:03:08.684]already that teach about plant biology.
[00:03:12.600]Whether they're teaching about photosynthesis
[00:03:14.310]or whether they're teaching about inheritance in plants,
[00:03:17.640]those things already exist elsewhere.
[00:03:19.620]What I found was that what didn't exist yet were
[00:03:24.360]lessons that taught about how to integrate technology
[00:03:27.750]into the school garden in a very usable way,
[00:03:30.030]especially for young students.
[00:03:33.420]So our goals are threefold.
[00:03:36.300]First, to support curiosity and exploration in garden spaces
[00:03:39.390]by leveraging a very affordable and accessible platform
[00:03:43.830]known as the BBC Microbit.
[00:03:45.300]This is a microcontroller tool that has lots
[00:03:49.080]of onboard sensors.
[00:03:50.040]You don't need a lot of equipment to do it.
[00:03:53.310]The kits are pretty inexpensive.
[00:03:55.230]They run usually right around $20 per kit.
[00:03:58.890]So you can outfit an entire class
[00:04:00.390]for a couple of hundred dollars.
[00:04:02.730]They're also very easy to code.
[00:04:05.310]I've done it successfully with students as young
[00:04:07.080]as third grade.
[00:04:08.970]Our second goal is to grow creativity around,
[00:04:11.970]especially engineering and design thinking.
[00:04:14.280]Having students not just consuming tech,
[00:04:17.040]technology is not just screen time and having them, you know
[00:04:20.040]play a video game or watch TV.
[00:04:23.160]It's also having them think about what doesn't exist yet
[00:04:27.540]and what technologies they would like to see designed
[00:04:32.087]and built in the future.
[00:04:34.740]And so, this lesson that will help students to engage
[00:04:39.900]in those engineering design practices and to move from
[00:04:45.270]being consumers of technology to really thinking about
[00:04:48.270]how technology allows them to be a creator.
[00:04:51.240]And finally, and that's why we created the
[00:04:54.060]Professional Development Series.
[00:04:55.290]We really believe that we need to equip educators
[00:04:58.410]with all of the key resources, lessons, training, supplies
[00:05:03.030]whether that's, you know, the BBC microbits
[00:05:04.710]or how-to coding guides, all of those things
[00:05:06.900]so that they can confidently and competently
[00:05:10.680]facilitate these learning experiences with youth.
[00:05:14.580]I really hope that this is going to be something that
[00:05:18.690]meets your needs and I look forward to those of you
[00:05:22.530]who are going to be on this journey with us.
[00:05:26.310]Thanks.

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Tags:
Garden TOOLS
Growable
K-12
Professional Development
School Garden

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