2019 ASHS Annual Conference

Gardens, especially children’s gardens, can be powerful, interactive spaces that connect kids to plants and science in exciting ways that will carry through their learning and life. Join Dr. Lownds on a walk (run) through the Michigan 4-H Children’s Gardens and the educational programs developed over the past 25 years. Explore how kids ‘experience plants’ in multiple ways, how they use technology to enhance and expand their hands-on learning and how they become immersed in “authentic experiments”. Discover how the learning connects all the way back to Liberty Hyde Bailey’s Nature Study Idea; what that looks like in 2019; how it all connects with the Next Generation Science Standards; and how it can provide important NSF Broader Impacts. Be inspired by reactions to Seeds of Science field trips and the impact they have on student interest, engagement and learning. Gather up ideas that can be used to interest and engage the next generation and develop a connection to, and love of, plants. Let the kid in you get excited by plants all over again!

The 4-H Children’s Gardens at Michigan State University have been engaging and exciting visitors for over 25 years. This garden has been described as “the most creative half-acre in America” and “a magical place of learning”. The gardens encourage visitors to ‘experience plants’ in the garden by smelling, touching and even tasting them. Children connect to plants through a variety of theme gardens including The ABC Kinder Garden, with plants that start with every letter of the alphabet; The Perfume Garden, with plants that smell great; The Science Discovery Garden, with plants that are being studied by researchers in Horticulture and The Pizza Garden, with plants that are used to make your pizza. In addition, kids can cross the Monet Bridge, wander through the Alice in Wonderland Maze and make music on the Dance Chimes. Visitors and can also explore plants in the Pete & Sally Smith Schoolyard Demonstration Garden and the Indoor 4-H Children’s Garden. Visitors come for a visit and leave with new and lasting connections to plants. It truly is “a magical place of learning”.