Big Green aims to improve the health of students and communities by creating experiential learning and garden-based education opportunities in low-income schools. Through our Learning Gardens, we are:
- Increasing students’ academic engagement and achievement
- Increasing students’ knowledge and likeability of fresh fruits and vegetables
- Strengthening the school/community relationship by creating opportunities to work together
We accomplish these outcomes by engaging with schools according to a deliberate continuum of program delivery that begins with the installation of a brand-new built environment—the Learning Garden space.
We then work closely with teachers and garden teams to ensure that they have all the gardening know-how they need to be successful teaching in the Learning Garden. We provide workshop-based and 1-on-1 training to teach gardening technical skills, classroom management, food literacy, and more.
Once schools are up and running with a basic Learning Garden program, we support them in the selection of a specific curriculum track, and gradually build to deeper learning and multi-generational engagement through our Community Pathways.