Kids University- Yard and Garden Sleuths; A Week Long University of Minnesota Youth Program That Introduces 8-9 Year-Old Students to Horticulture through Campus Horticultural Resources

Kids University is sponsored by the University of Minnesota Recreational Sports Department and coordinates a diverse assortment of summer programs on the St. Paul, University of Minnesota campus for youth that vary in duration, topic, and student age.  Beginning in 2004 and repeated in 2005, 2007, and 2009, members of the Department of Horticultural Sciences partnered with Kids University to develop a week long course focused on introducing eight and nine year old students to horticulture. The course fees are split between the two sponsoring groups.  The course is named Yard and Garden Sleuths and offers a hands-on, detective-like learning style to introduce students to horticulture.  The course is also designed to introduce students and their families to the campus and additional university resources. Students spend half a day studying horticulture and the other half day engaged in recreational sports coordinated by the Recreational Sports Department.  This course provides a unique and dynamic learning experience for youth and  provides campus faculty and students (graduate and undergraduate) with the opportunity to work with younger students than is typical on a college campus.  Yard and Garden Sleuth course coordinators bring together interested Department of Horticultural Sciences members each year, connect them with individual lessons and activities for them to lead in their area of expertise and interest, and mentor them as they prepare age-appropriate instructional material. The general curriculum outline builds chronologically throughout the week- Monday: introduction to gardens, seeds, soils, and worms; Tuesday: plant parts and plant identification; Wednesday: plants as a commodity; Thursday: how plants capture light energy; and Friday: pollinators and their interaction with flowers and harvest.  Each day is comprised of several short activities that support specific learning objectives, and student interest is maintained through integrating special speakers, discussions, experiments, field trips, crafts, and snacks that compliment different learning styles. The scientific method is emphasized through a couple of targeted experiments throughout the week as students ask questions, set up the experiments, take data, and discuss results. The greenhouse classroom serves as the home base for the class and the nearby display and trial garden, student organic farm, woods, and College of Biological Sciences Greenhouses serve as frequent field trip destinations. Students are given plants, cut flowers, and/or seeds to take home each day.  On the last day of class, students are given an age-appropriate gardening book to provide them with a resource for continued learning.