The garden as a space for learning by doing….
Jhon Dewey was a pedagogue, philosopher and critical psychologist of the prevailing educational system, his main contribution is that Dewey showed a practical sense to plan and develop an integrated curriculum of occupations (activities functions linked to the child's environment), including forecasts of development of the child. program in short time cycles.
Quoting DEWEY:
'A careful inspection of the methods that have been permanently successful in formal education will reveal that their efficiency depends on the fact that they return to the situation that causes reflection outside the school in ordinary life. They give students something to do, not something to learn; and if the doing is of such a nature that it demands thinking or becoming aware of the connections; learning is a natural result. "
In this way, gardening, recycling and art give our students “something to do” an extra motivation for attending school. The educational experience is no longer just reading books or copying from the blackboard. As the teacher Montessory also put it, “… an education for life”, the garden offers the student several optional activities, always insisting on the value of work, commitment and the development of self-control and self-discipline.
Dewey in his theory of knowledge emphasized the "need to verify thought through action if it is to become knowledge." Concept applicable to the student of the integration program that many times, due to having a slower learning or a reduced capacity for abstraction, cannot learn, frustrated to finally drop out of the educational system. Learning by doing is an option for our special students who, due to individual, personal or family conditions, are unable to advance with respect to the demands of the school curriculum, which repeatedly requires memory skills, and evaluates a verbal or logical mathematical learning style. Trying to learn in this system can be very frustrating for them, even harmful.Standardized tests are the coup de grace for a disadvantaged student.
Recycling, Art and School Garden
Art from the psychological task is a means for the emotional expression of our patients, but it is also a methodology for the occupational and vocational development of students. If we mix art and recycling we find an infinite universe of possibilities that waste and the reuse of human waste give us. Creativity and innovation are developed through the experience of art and garden, where the child develops expressive capacity in a highly stimulating and unstructured environment.
Andean mural adorned with native species such as aloe vera, corn, passion fruit and tomatoes planted in tires and plastic bottles.
Art works as an expressive medium and allows us to improve our quality of life when we use creativity and innovation to beautify our surroundings. In this way the orchard is an INTEGRATING KNOWLEDGE space. In the garden, what is learned in classes is put into practice, but it is also a place where values for healthy coexistence are learned. In the garden we act with responsibility and discipline but the main thing is A PLACE TO ENJOY LEARNING.
The recycling of bottles and tires is a response to the need to cultivate in reduced spaces and reuse highly polluting and abundant materials within urban garbage.
The creative process and the incorporation of art in the school garden
In the garden the students create life. They are introduced into the life cycle of living beings, resulting in a relationship, a bond that each boy or girl develops with their plants, insects and birds that frequent the garden. A bond at a therapeutic level is also generated with the students, where behavioral change and the expression of their emotions results in a feeling of well-being. The student connects with the healthiest within her being, with the ability to love and understand that there is another being that depends on her. The experience of caring for worms, pollinating insects, hummingbirds and decomposers, is a way to practice empathy and value each living being that nature has created. Understanding develops from concrete experience, and allows them as children to feel possessed of the power to care,protect and generate new lives that depend on them.
Chincol Nest with Eggs
Kindergarten students acquiring occupational skills.
Mosaic and mural created by students from the school garden with reused material.
The school curriculum, understanding of sustainable and ecological technology
The activities of the garden are related to many areas and objectives of the school curriculum, in this way the participation of the students of the establishment in the garden is an opportunity to learn in a different way, not abstract or logical mathematical, but concrete and tangible. The abstraction processes of our students have been very little stimulated in their homes, they are generally carried out by adults with incomplete studies and they dedicate very little time to educational work at home. The psychosocial situation, low vocabulary development and poor information handling negatively affect reading comprehension, which is reflected in the results of standardized tests such as the SIMCE.
The school garden improves the understanding capacity of the student by incorporating new concepts into their vocabulary, the child learns to classify and recognize plants, understands the processes of photosynthesis and the life cycle of plants, is able to make analogies between the reproduction of plants and humans. This understanding starts from what is explicit and palpable, strengthening classroom learning, giving them an anchor based on their experiences and their own curiosity.
A strategic educator must use the ability of his students to be surprised, to fantasize and dream, to channel their creative impulse. These characteristics of the child are often devalued by traditional and adult-centric education. In schools we work under pressure from the ministry, which requires the delivery of content in an accelerated manner, against time, reducing the teacher's spaces to generate an atmosphere of playful and sensitive learning. As the typical sayings say, in the style of "who covers a lot little squeezes".
The student measures the growth of the plants by making a frequency table.
THE ARTICULATION OF THE ORCHARD WITH THE SUBSECTORS OF THE CURRICULUM
During 2016, spaces were created for pedagogical work in the orchard, always with the support of the management and UTP, and the incipient teamwork required by this type of methodologies. The articulation between PIE psychologist (in charge of the non-teaching activity "school garden") and teachers (in charge of the subsectors of the curriculum) has depended on our wills and desire to do "something different", for this reason it is important to be able to systematize this experience and to be able to rationalize and plan the activity and its results, in order to be able to be replicated, perfected and used as a different way to reinforce learning during the year 2017.
Work in the laboratory, reuse of grill ashes to create potassium soap, used to organically eliminate pests from the garden.
I work together with the TORTUMAR green turtle conservation project of the Arturo Prat University
Sociocultural deprivation and lack of opportunities: The garden and the school as a new opportunity to learn and adapt to society.
The Don Bosco school has a vulnerability index of 96%, which indicates that we work with a complex population, with the presence of conflicts at an economic, moral and value level that affect the development of our students. In some cases, spiritual and economic poverty generates an emotionally disturbed student profile, prone to conflict and risky behavior. Their learning capacity and school performance are also impaired. Our students suffer from social deprivation which is defined as:
“Lack of the necessary stimulation for human development due to social isolation, which can cause disorders in the evolution of the personality and in the socialization process” (Martí, 2003: 120). The psychologist R. Feuerstein, indicates that “ This process occurs strongly in communities, families and people in poverty, who are educated in the meanings of the culture of poverty and exclude themselves (and are excluded) from the predominant culture in society ”(Barrantes, 2007: 54).
The school garden is presented as a socializing method that allows children to understand their world, understand life processes in a concrete and natural way. The analogies between the reproduction of plants and humans have allowed students from first grade to understand their origin as people and the reproductive processes in a formal, playful way and without distortions. The more information and understanding of the world the child acquires, the less the impact of the lack of opportunities and of being born in poverty should be.
Work of Vermiculture and care of living beings as a source of empathy development in first-cycle students.
The information received in the garden is a constant feedback regarding his abilities, since the work generates a change abroad, in his school that welcomes him every day. In this way that self-esteem corroded by school failures and family abuse increases, the boy or girl sees himself as someone useful and loving with other living beings and above all CAPABLE OF TRANSFORMING THEIR OWN WORLD. Muralism, mosaics and other techniques used have also allowed occupational learning to use tools and masonry materials, and the integration of mathematical knowledge that until now was abstract.
The professional in charge of the garden becomes a significant third party who promotes pro-social behaviors, which encourages teamwork and good treatment as well as delivering a demanding and disinterested affection to the small workers. The garden promotes in the student the ability to change and transform their world and reality. What was a vacant lot today are edible plants, what used to be garbage today are seedlings full of plants and flowers. An empowered boy or girl will be a future adult who will understand their capacity to transform reality, and who will be able to break the chain of dependency and welfare.
A beautiful visitor to our garden who gives us a message from God and nature: "Take care of the hummingbird of Arica"
The garden is a space for responsible and systematic work. For this reason the value of work and human dignity are axes of the development of the horticultural child, because the child understands that the impact of their work in the garden bears fruit and that this production capacity is directly related to what he or she has given as time, effort and good will. Emotional development translates into an introjection of absent social values and norms in the family environment, providing the opportunity to break with the "accommodation" to domestic violence.
Social deprivation is not only about a cultural lack, since each person and social group creates and shares their own culture; rather, it refers to the social construction of poverty and the internalization of it as a state of life in the face of a "superior" culture. The same is true of minority ethnic groups, which are at a disadvantage compared to other larger groups.
The garden as a means of repairing psychosocial damage in vulnerable children
The damage generated at the psychosocial level by violence within families is undoubtedly one of the most complex factors to intervene at the educational level. In this sense, school is a place where the abused student cannot adapt easily, gets on badly with the adults at school, with classmates and does not tolerate frustration. Despite trying to fit in, she does not succeed as her behavioral repertoire tends to vulgarity and violence against others. For these students the garden is an opportunity to develop therapeutic and productive links, in this environment the relational style can be restructured, limiting it and building a new mutual understanding based on the common objective of communicating efficiently to achieve "caring for plants".Social skills such as empathy are concepts that the child will understand in practice, while their values are internally restructured. The child must understand that there are people with a social and adaptive morality (at school) and other people with a harmful and maladjusted morality (at home or in the neighborhood). In this way, the work in the garden allows us to repair the damage suffered by our students at the level of the primary bonds, it allows them to develop values and knowledge that increase their understanding of the world that surrounds them in a concrete way. The garden is a place to "escape" from school stress, to relax and enjoy nature. We insist to the students that the experience of the garden should be replicated in their own gardens and with their families.We promote that the knowledge obtained in the garden is used for the production of edible food by the students and their families.
Psychological change during participation in the school garden
During the process of psychological change carried out by the students in the garden, there were various dynamics and factors that facilitated and promoted well-being and mental health:
From a behavioral change perspective, it is feasible to use the garden as positive reinforcement to promote a change in student behaviors. Participating in the garden is presented as a benefit to the school community. The student must earn the opportunity to go out to work in the garden.
The adult in charge of the garden functions as a therapist and a significant third of the students to intervene, this relationship promotes resilience and personal development. The therapeutic bond develops with all its time limits, roles and responsibilities. Agreements and work commitments are generated which require responsibility and mutual commitment. Trust is developed in the adult who offers confidentiality and a space for private conversation through interviews and unconditional welcome in the face of personal and family conflicts.
Psychological changes observed in participating students:
Increased concentration and the ability to observe and investigate: Monitoring the growth of plants, differentiating the types of plants by their leaves and understanding the instructions of daily work are stimuli that are constantly presented in the garden and that allow the development of concentration skills and primary socialization.
Development of anger control and reduction of impulsivity: The work in the garden requires concentration and calm, for which the student must learn to develop self-control, tolerance for frustration and use communication with the therapist to vent their conflicts. The garden provides a space for the relaxation of conflicts, relief and emotional connection.
Develop a sense of responsibility and self-efficacy: Success in the company started, the effort invested by each of the students is reflected in a result, a vegetable or a plant created by themselves. The care, the watering, the fight against pests are rewarded when the student understands that he is capable of modifying reality.
Improving nutrition: Students are more motivated to taste vegetables when they have seen them grow from the beginning of the crop.
Development of social skills and teamwork:The orchard is a co-construction so the results depend on the effort made by the team. Working in the garden allows students to develop communication and conflict resolution skills. The normative work and the insistence on social limits within the work in the workshop have allowed our students to develop skills for a future job placement, and also an orientation regarding their future goals. The link with the garden manager is an opportunity to make peace with the authority and with the image of the adult, since participation is optional and the tasks and work to be carried out within the garden are mandatory. The student must accept being taught and given instructions, regaining confidence in the adult and in himself.
School gardens increase ecological awareness: The school grounds contain elements of the natural environment, the built environment and the social environment: soil, plants and trees, insects and wildlife, sun and shade, water supply and facilities sanitary facilities, spaces for recreation and study, social life and contacts with the outside world. Raising children's awareness of these environments so that they learn to deal with them will help them to become responsible adults. Projects that improve school grounds create awareness and pride, and reinforce the school's reputation in the community. Every year, your garden plan should include improvements to the environment, even small ones.
The team has no age or gender limits, working together the work is easier and more entertaining.
The garden stimulates and develops concepts such as healthy eating:
“The Organic Garden is a natural and inexpensive way to produce healthy vegetables throughout the year. This allows increasing the quantity and quality of food, and can also be an alternative to generate income. ”*
* Article: "How to make an Organic Garden?", At www.nutrar.com
Work in the school garden is a method of growing food that draws on the earth's natural resources, such as soil, sun, air, rain, plants, animals, and people. Use natural methods to keep the soil fertile and healthy and control insects, pests, and diseases. Its results may be slower than those of conventional agriculture, which uses artificial fertilizers and pesticides, but in the long term it is safer, cheaper and more sustainable. Organic methods can help keep water sources clean and chemical-free. Organic gardening is also safer for children because it does not use dangerous chemicals. On a commercial level, its profitability is increasing, as more and more people request organic products.
THE INTEGRATION PROGRAM AND THE SCHOOL GARDEN.
The garden is a means of reinforcing the learning necessary and required by the school curriculum, but it is also a motivating space in which students enjoy while they learn. In this way, it is achieved that the students of the integration program generate meaningful learning based on direct experience, as opposed to abstract knowledge that is difficult for them to understand and learn. It also allows behavioral change in conflictive, hyperactive or learning-disabled students, giving them an inclusive space that promotes internal balance and reduces their anxiety or violent behaviors. Faced with the SEN, the garden is a reinforcement space for the achievements in the classroom. When the student finishes her duties, she is authorized to work in the garden by the teacher, after agreement with the psychologist,.the one who performs behavioral modeling and work commitment. Hyperactive students require spaces for play since they are generally agitated and anxious at the behavioral level, in this sense the garden gives them an infinity of occupations in which to burn that abundant energy in their body, and often annoying inside the classroom for teachers.
The support process of the Integration Program at a psychological level has been more efficient by using group methodologies and associated with therapeutic play, developing spaces for assertive communication and emotional expression within the garden, in this way the garden is a suitable and very stimulating for psychological or psychoeducational intervention.
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY AND GARDEN V / S SOCIAL DEPRIVATION
The extracurricular activity arises as an opportunity to stimulate, learn and achieve a full and comprehensive development of the student. It is an efficient method to expand the social world, to get out of marginality and resolve conflicts and resentments regarding the lack of opportunities and the poverty in which we were born. After-school activity reduces leisure time and allows boys and girls to enjoy their rights to play and learn, to enjoy their right to good treatment and equal opportunities.
In summary, the school garden and the processes that students live there allow to reduce the level of social deprivation, providing opportunities for personal and intellectual development. Don Bosco in his SALESIAN PREVENTIVE SYSTEM states, “… Playful, recreational, sports and artistic activities are essential in the formation of the young. In this sense Don Bosco quotes Felipe Neri:
"Do what you want, it is enough for me that you do not commit sin", which, translated in modern terms, implies education in the responsible freedom of the young and in supporting their talents.
During these two years of work in a highly vulnerable community, I have observed the profile and characteristics of a student in conditions of social deprivation:
Characteristics of social deprivation observed in our boys and girls
1- Lack of participation in social institutions as a consequence of discrimination and social isolation. Families that are not very participative in the child's school process.
Student with food from the garden for an institutional meal
2- Inadequate family conditions both in relation to the material (housing, food, clothing, study space) and in relation to the relationships between family members (disintegration and intra-family violence). Conflicts such as gender violence, alcohol and drug use, overcrowding, and social behaviors are observed.
Work for the development of identification and sense of belonging to the school.
3- Conflict between one's own culture (marginalized) and that of the rest of society (predominant). This generates very obvious misunderstandings and negative consequences between members of different cultures.
4- The notable marginality, dependency, helplessness and the feeling of inferiority in front of other social groups.
5- The evident delay of many children, young people, and even adults, with respect to their age. According to the theory developed by the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Special Education, it is indicated that sociocultural deprivation has as a worrying starting point the fact that all individuals belonging to the most economically depressed social classes "are fifteen times more likely to be diagnosed as mentally retarded ”(Sánchez, 1985: 598).
6- The weak formation of the structuring capacities of logical thinking, which reduces the capacity for universality, flexibility and plasticity of
7- The limited interest in the study or any facet that is related to the predominant culture.
CONCLUSIONS
Every child, even the most wayward, violent or undisciplined, always has a hope, and within the Salesian Preventive System this will find a space to change, not through repression and physical punishment, but through dialogue and the feeling of being part of a large educational family.
Don Bosco.
This document represents the psychological work in the garden for a year at the DON BOSCO technological school, about 60 students from the school were intervened, with a total of 24 PIE students, 25 students belonging to the ACLE "school garden", 11 students incorporated due to spontaneous demand or need for emotional support and counseling. It has been hard and difficult work, from the beginning of our work we have faced the challenge with hope and desire to do things well. Always with faith and from the hand of God and the Virgin, today we can say “mission accomplished”, we have implemented a school garden improving the school environment, but above all we have cultivated smiles, hopes and dreams. We have cultivated social change by breaking the cycle of violence in our 60 intervened students through the garden,just like the seed that germinates and evolves in fertile ground, our students have taken advantage of the fertile space of love and concern for them.
I thank the school, my students and parents, for the trust they have placed in me as a psychologist and garden therapist. This garden is just beginning, there are still many challenges and projects that undoubtedly are like seeds, but that we will germinate together with the institution and there are beautiful people who build it, so human and sensitive. With effort and work, our proposals will make the school what the Salesians and Don Bosco's dream have spread and promoted throughout the world: Give opportunities to children and young people who suffer and live in poverty, violence and marginalization. Let us teach them to work and live life with dignity, strength and much love hand in hand with the teachings of Jesus.
"He who tills his land will be satisfied with bread, but he who pursues vain lacks understanding."
Proverbs 12:11
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