Despite the importance of bees, there is a gap in the public's understanding of them. To help address this gap, we developed the outreach tool Experience Bees, a series of simple learning and hands-on activities to teach community members about bees and their importance in our landscapes. Program evaluation showed that participants learned about…

Plants and the outdoors may be something of a mystery to a generation of children who are reportedly spending more and more time indoors; this has the potential to inhibit real understanding of many complex biological processes. Taking children outdoors introduces them to a world from which they are becoming increasingly distant. However, a…

As plants are vital to the survival of the planet, developing positive attitude towards them is important for protection of plants, biodiversity, and the environment. The aim of this research was to determine the predictors of ninth grade students' attitude towards plants. In the study, a descriptive correlational design was used. The data were…

This article analyzes an educational initiative between Kew Gardens, Royal Holloway, University of London, and two London primary schools. The schools, located in areas of high ethnic diversity, worked with the members of the Mobile Museum project team -- including the Learning Department at Kew and researchers at both institutions -- to create…

An integration of horticultural therapy and aromatherapy can be beneficial to physical and psychological well-being of undergraduates. Through learning the basics of herbal plants and ways to plant and smell them, and through massaging, smelling, and taking bath with natural herbal essential oils, undergraduates can enjoy the pleasant feeling…

Varying from previous studies that are mostly focused on whether the use of worksheets is effective for environmental education, this study compared three family-oriented worksheets with different design characteristics to explore their effects based on family visitors' satisfaction. The results revealed that differences in children's ages…

Practice-oriented, socio-material investigations have surfaced the emergent nature of professional knowing and the significance of things for organising such knowing. However, in these accounts, one significant organising actor is largely overlooked: time. This paper foregrounds time, exploring how different temporalities orchestrate knowing in…

This paper provides evidence gathered from two suites of non-formal science activities that were intended to increase engagement in science by culturally diverse groups. Both studies involved the delivery of science activities that were designed, implemented and evaluated to show culturally contextualised science. The activities were run in two…

Botanic and public gardens attract a significant number of people throughout the world who visit these spaces for a wide variety of reasons. Notwithstanding, the study of visitor experiences in such spaces is a much under-researched foci in the fields of museum education and visitor studies. This exploratory study examined the reflective…

Will spring be early next year? This is a question the authors ponder each fall as they prepare for a yearlong citizen science project with kindergartners. Citizen science projects naturally promote the development of science and engineering practices. These projects can be integrated at any grade level and aligned to meet other content areas as…

Social connections are crucial for today's middle and high school students. We address this social need through a 3-H Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Cycle. Through the Three Sisters Garden activity presented here, we teach secondary school students about biodiversity and sustainability as we integrate the arts into STEM (STEAM). Students…

The main aim of this paper was to analyze how medicinal gardens in secondary schools can improve teaching-learning processes in rural settings. The sample comprised 179 students (69.3% girls) from a rural public secondary school in the province of Huila (Colombia). The age of the participants ranged from 15 to 17 years with a mean of 15.86 years…

We designed and implemented two instructional approaches to plant education, with the intention of supporting positive attitudes toward plants among sixth-grade students (11-13 years old). In one instructional approach, students prepared a book about plants that have interesting characteristics. In the other approach, students visited a botanical…

How can we 'desettle' the colonial discourse and worldview of botanical gardens and its practices in teaching about plants? How can we move towards engaging deeply with who we are and think we are in relation to place, land, and the world, grounded in an intricate sense of harmony? How can we move our work in botanic gardens beyond regarding land,…

Currently there is no urban forestry and natural resources curriculum available to Louisiana K-12 students. In addition, there has not been any assessment of the perception, willingness of teachers and or students in Louisiana for Urban Forestry. This study assessed the above gaps in urban forestry and natural resources education and addressed the…