Abstract
Background
Researchers have established the benefits of school gardens on students’ academic
achievement, dietary outcomes, physical activity, and psychosocial skills, yet limited
research has been conducted about how school gardens become institutionalized and
sustained.
Objective
Our aim was to develop a tool that captures how gardens are effectively established,
integrated, and sustained in schools.
Design
We conducted a sequential, exploratory, mixed-methods study. Participants were identified
with the help of Grow To Learn, the organization coordinating the New York City school
garden initiative, and recruited via e-mail.
Participants/setting
A stratified, purposeful sample of 21 New York City elementary and middle schools
participated in this study throughout the 2013/2014 school year. The sample was stratified
in their garden budgets and purposeful in that each of the schools’ gardens were determined
to be well integrated and sustained.
Main outcome measures
The processes and strategies used by school gardeners to establish well-integrated
school gardens were assessed via data collected from surveys, interviews, observations,
and concept mapping.
Statistical analyses performed
Descriptive statistics as well as multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster
analysis were used to examine the survey and concept mapping data. Qualitative data
analysis consisted of thematic coding, pattern matching, explanation building and
cross-case synthesis.
Results
Nineteen components within four domains of school garden integration were found through
the mixed-methods concept mapping analysis. When the analyses of other data were combined,
relationships between domains and components emerged. These data resulted in the development
of the GREEN (Garden Resources, Education, and Environment Nexus) Tool.
Conclusions
When schools with integrated and sustained gardens were studied, patterns emerged
about how gardeners achieve institutionalization through different combinations of
critical components. These patterns are best described by the GREEN Tool, the first
framework to identify how to operationalize school gardening components and describe
an evidence-based strategy of successful school garden integration.
Keywords
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Biography
K. G. Burt is an assistant professor, Dietetics, Food and Nutrition Program at Lehman College, City University of New York, Bronx; at the time of the study, she was a doctoral fellow, Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education, and Policy at Teachers College Columbia University, New York, NY.
Biography
P. Koch is executive director, Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education, and Policy, Teachers College Columbia University, New York, NY.
Biography
I. Contento is the faculty director and Mary Swartz Rose Professor of Nutrition and Education, Teachers College Columbia University, New York, NY.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 04, 2017
Accepted:
February 6,
2017
Received:
February 17,
2016
Footnotes
Supplementary materials: Figures 3 and 4 are available at www.jandonline.org
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT There is no funding to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
