Summit Overview

Workshops in this theme will focus on what and how we teach in garden classrooms. Topics under the theme of what we teach might include connecting the garden with Next Generation Science or Common Core standards; project-based learning; garden-enhanced nutrition curriculum; lessons that promote nature connection;; youth leadership and empowerment; lessons on climate change or regenerative agriculture; and the like. We will look for a balance of workshops to address different age ranges. Topics under the theme of how we teach might include district adoption of garden curriculum; sequencing garden lessons throughout the year; hybrid indoor/outdoor learning; outdoor classroom management; supporting Special Education in the garden; and the like.

Workshops in this theme will focus on the physical elements of school gardens and outdoor classroom spaces, with an emphasis on elements that support learning, ease of maintenance, and long-term sustainability. Topics may include school gardening basics, promising practices in garden maintenance, youth- or community-led school garden design, and the like.

Workshops in this theme will focus on how we can use school gardens to promote student wellness, including nutrition/healthy eating, mindfulness, and social-emotional wellbeing. Topics might include using gardens to address health inequities, to provide students with regular access to nature, to teach about food systems and food justice, to engage in physical education, and/or to provide an upstream approach to community health. Workshops in this theme might also include guidance for leading cooking classes, taste taste testing programs, garden to cafeteria programs, and other forms of edible education.

Workshops in this theme will focus on promising practices for effectively training and supporting school garden educators, including interns, volunteers, classroom teachers, pre-service teachers, and/or SGSO staff. Topics may also include pathway models that provide participants in SGSO programs with opportunities to step into educator or leadership roles within SGSOs.

Workshops in this theme will explore how school garden programs can engage in mutually supportive partnerships, such as with students’ families, local communities, Boys and Girls’ Clubs, after-school programs, school food service, the health care sector, chefs, farm to school, wellness committees, colleges and universities, and the like. This theme could also include workshops on youth-led micro-enterprise programs.

Workshops in this theme will focus on what current research tells us about the impacts of garden education, and also effective ways to assess the impacts of our garden programs and share those impacts with others. Workshops in this theme may include summaries of findings from school garden researchers, and practical tips for assessing outcomes related to academics, nutrition, social-emotional wellbeing, student agency, engagement, and more. Workshops may also include methods for sharing the impacts of garden education, such as storytelling, developing compelling annual reports, creating videos, and the like. Additionally, workshops in this theme may cover how to develop programs that are driven by and responsive to research.

Workshops in this theme will explore the big ideas around what we can achieve together, for example in terms of advocacy, policy change, and coalition building.

Workshops in this theme will focus on ways to make school garden programs resilient and sustainable over time. Topics in this theme may include long-term funding models, and creating or supporting a culture of garden-based learning at a school, district, or regional level.

Workshops in this theme will focus on how we can best serve all of our students and colleagues and disrupt systems of oppression within our workplaces and within our teaching. Topics might include culturally responsive garden curriculum, affinity groups, hiring practices to reflect the populations we serve, restorative justice in the garden, supporting diverse learners, and the like.

Workshops in this theme will focus on organizational effectiveness. Topics may include fair and equitable hiring practices, strategic planning, logic models, digital tools for running your organization, fundraising, methods for making meetings more effective, and the like.