GREEN: A tool to integrate a school garden

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School gardens have been established to benefit students in areas such a increasing academic performance, improving dietary behaviors, increasing physical activity and psychosocial skills. Research studies have been conducted to prove the effects of schools gardens on those components.
A study was conducted by Gardner Burt, Koch, & Contento (2017)  to see the process of how school gardens are implemented and sustained over time into schools. 21 NYC schools were evaluated and sampled via surveys. Through this study, an evidence based tool was developed called GREEN. It stands for Garden resource, Education, and Environment Nexus. This tool incorporates four common domains (resources and support, physical garden, student experience, and school community) that were determined throughout the study and 19 components that are critical to school garden integration. Following this tool will provide adequate guidance for the steep learning curve that comes along with implementing a brand new school garden program. It provides a visual representation of how to operate those critical components of garden integration in a school setting to provide lasting results such as increasing academic performance and improving the dietary behaviors of the students.

LG


Gardner Burt, K., Koch, P. & Contento, I. (2017). Development of the GREEN (garden resources, 
education, and environment nexus) tool: an evidence-based model for school garden integration. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 117 (10), 1517-1527. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2017.02.008

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