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This qualitative study examines definitions of school gardening used by preschool educators and examines their views on the value of school gardening in their curriculum. The participants consisted of school principals and teachers working in two different types of preschools as traditional and nature-based. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews and content analysis technique was used. Findings showed that the educators routinely implemented school gardening, both outdoors and in greenhouse. School gardening was integrated with other curriculum activities. Its positive effects on children's development were expressed with emphasizing the need for additional space, time, financial support, and collaboration with experts.

The domestication of plants to make them suitable for consumption is a cultural event in many Indigenous cultures. The cultivation and production of food forms an important part of the worldview of Indigenous peoples. Its inclusion in formal education therefore addresses several cultural issues, fostering understanding of Indigenous life systems, on the one hand, and, on the other, strengthening their perceived legitimacy as valid, necessary processes that are in dialogue with other knowledge imparted within the school system. At the same time, the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives is necessary for a new social contract for education, advancing a paradigm in which Indigenous peoples and organizations participate directly in the creation of educational content, as opposed to what has been happening: states defining and establishing school programme design and content.

The Australian Outdoor Health (OH) sector provides diverse practices that support an interconnected human and ecological approach to health and wellbeing. There is an urgent need for the OH sector to develop a comprehensive ethical practice framework, to enable professional recognition and other initiatives to progress. This would bring the sector in line with similar health and wellbeing occupations including social work, psychology, and counselling that have established professional recognition. A key feature of professional recognition is the acceptance of a Code of Ethics or Ethical Framework to guide practice and enhance standing in the field. This scoping review of the literature is undertaken to aid in developing an OH ethical practice framework. Findings suggest the framework should incorporate two overarching themes of beneficence and nonmaleficence, and contain six guiding principles: diversity, equity, advocacy, justice, accountability, and competence. We discuss these findings, situate them within broader OH community and health sector discourses, and make recommendations for establishing an Australian ethical practice framework to assist the move towards professional recognition and drive ethical OH practice.

Purpose: This paper aims to understand whether different types of strategic decisions warrant the influence of different types of knowledge providers. Design/Methodology/Approach: A survey of 28 horticulture farmers was conducted in Belgium to explore their knowledge providers and recent strategic decisions. Farmers reported their microAKIS configuration, up to three strategic decisions and detailed the interaction with each of their knowledge providers. Findings: Horticulture farmers configure their microAKIS in unique ways partly depending on their subsector, while purposefully mobilizing only part of this configuration for each strategic decision. The findings suggest that the role of knowledge provider can be context- or decision-specific. Practical Implications: Advisors and policy makers should consider the specificity of advisory services when developing support tools aimed at specific innovations, as farmers do not necessarily rely on topic specialists alone. Theoretical Implications: The results highlight the complexity of the influence of knowledge providers on innovation and the need for research on general strategic decisions and multiple decisions per farmer. Originality/Value: The paper applies a broad methodology to study the mobilization of agricultural knowledge providers by utilizing strategic decisions rather than specific innovations and capturing multiple decisions per farmer.

This study sought to provide insight into whether Georgia Extension meets the needs of its clients farming in rural areas, specifically row-crop farmers in rural Southeast Georgia. This qualitative study utilized a semi-structured interview of four purposively selected Southeast Georgia row-crop farmers. Three themes and seven sub-themes emerged from the data. Challenges facing row-crop farmers were identified as (a) surmounting the current culture surrounding row-crop farming, (b) facing a lack of representation and consideration, and (c) coping with uncontrollable circumstances. Participants' perceptions and usage of the Extension Service differed based on their views of the local Extension Service office or the Statewide Extension Service. Areas in which farmers identified they would like to see the Extension Service improve include (a) an increase in applied research projects and programming and (b) a more consistent Extension presence. Respondents indicated that challenges are increasing in areas where the Extension Service could assist. While the view of the county Extension agent was highly positive, the farmers' opinions of statewide Extension leadership were less optimistic. The participants highly regard the unbiased research-based information delivered through county Extension personnel. However, the service provided through neighboring counties and state specialists shaped different views of the Extension Service among the group. Recommendations include conducting localized needs assessments, professional development for agents and specialists that address current trends and implications in Extension, farmer participation in agent and specialist evaluation, and replication of this study in each of Georgia's Extension regions.

There is much interest in employing computer technology in design professions and education. However, few attempts have been made to apply immersive visualization technology to learn design details in landscape architecture. This study aims to illuminate how virtual reality (VR) technology helps students with design details in landscape architecture. Students were given a course project to create 3D models such as boardwalk structures located in residential pond areas. Based on their 3D models, we asked 16 research participants to answer survey questionnaires about the perception of realism, scale, and effectiveness of using computer technology in semi-immersive environments (e.g., monitor display-based) as opposed to fully immersive environments (e.g., VR head-mounted display-based). The results of our study showed that students had a higher realism in fully immersive environments compared to semi-immersive environments. In terms of perception of scale, participants perceived the height of the simulated model to be higher than they had anticipated in fully immersive environments. While there were no statistically significant findings regarding the effectiveness of design evaluation in the two modalities, students mentioned that VR technology can effectively assist in creating design details, as it provides them with a better understanding of the spatial characteristics of models.

Landscape design is a measure of the development of urbanization process and the improvement of people's happiness index. The process of urbanization will involve landscape design. The study and teaching of landscape design is the core teaching method of landscape design research. However, with the diversified development of landscape design schemes and the characteristics of landscape 3D schemes, traditional landscape teaching schemes can no longer meet the needs of students and teaching, which also limits the effect of students' understanding and learning of landscape design schemes. Digital technology has been widely used in the field of landscape design, and has shown good results. This research uses the artificial intelligence method of digital technology to study the relevant factors in the teaching task of landscape design. This article mainly discusses three characteristics of students' design preference, landscape layout, and landscape pattern in landscape design teaching, which are also important factors affecting landscape design.

Purpose: Greener on the Outside for Prisons (GOOP) is a therapeutic horticulture programme targeting the high levels of complex health and social care needs in prisons in England. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns led to unprecedented disruption in prisons in England. This paper examines the experiences of prisoners both during and post-lockdowns in four prisons, to understand the effects of participation in GOOP on health and wellbeing after the disruption of restrictions, and identify implications for developing this programme further. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on original qualitative data gathered from in-depth narrative-based interviews and focus groups with prisoners and staff in four English prisons. Audio data was transcribed and subject to a thematic analysis, drawing from a realist-informed lens. Findings: Thematic analysis revealed five key themes: reimagining the GOOP context; increasing empathy between participants; building sense of coherence; reconnecting with nature and a joined-up connection with provider services. The main arguments centre on horticulture in prisons remaining under-utilised as a means of promoting good health and wellbeing, although there is enthusiasm from staff to provide green spaces for the most vulnerable prisoners and develop a range of mechanisms to connect people in prison with nature. Originality/value: This paper focuses on new knowledge arising from an unprecedented situation in English prisons, from key stakeholders on the frontline of garden activities. Accounts demonstrate the extent of the health and wellbeing benefits of participation in such activities in this challenging environment, which has implications for practice for prisons more widely.

This article explores the critical potential of theatre practice as research in interdisciplinary environmental contexts. It does this with specific reference to The Performic Cycle, a practice as research methodology that brings environmental adaptation thinking into conversation with vital materialist and critical disability scholarship through experimental participatory performance practice. The Performic Cycle emerged through a series of neurodivergent-led theatre practice as research projects ("The Panarchy Projects," 2017-2020), and has since then been tested out in a number of participatory, interdisciplinary and cross-art-form environmental contexts.

A diagnostic walkabout (DW) is an in-field diagnostic training program for professionals in the green industry (greenhouse, landscape, nursery, and turf businesses). DWs have been scheduled annually since 2002 and are easily replicable, fee-based programs that provide cost recovery. DWs also serve as a mentoring program for new Extension educators. Four generations of Extension Educators have participated. Recently, the annual program has been sponsored by state and regional trade associations. What began as an educational outreach program has become a bridge spanning Extension, trade associations, businesses, and generations of Extension educators.

Landscapes have been and are an important aspect of any society, culture, economy and environment. Besides the role of landscape and Landscape Sciences in these arenas, there have been increasingly greater calls to incorporate landscape into the curriculum. Moreover, Landscape Education is beneficial in developing important foundations in students, particularly that of active citizenry. While the benefits of Landscape Education are evident, current research remains focused on Western, especially European, contexts. This article discusses how a leading Singapore public University incorporates Landscape Education within a relatively new module on Toponymy offered in the Linguistics and Multilingual Studies Programme. While the links between Linguistics and a course in Toponymy or even the links between Toponymy and Landscape may not be immediately apparent, an analysis of the content covered in the module demonstrates congruence to existing frameworks and principles in teaching Landscape Education and, at the same time, provides a case in point in interdisciplinarity, drawing from diverse disciplines such as Language, Linguistics, History, Geography, Landscape Sciences, Anthropological Linguistics, among many others. This study provides useful references for educational institutions in incorporating Landscape Education into their curriculum.

Our statewide floral design training program aimed to raise consumer awareness and appreciation of locally grown fresh flowers and to promote extension floral programs through delivery of workshops and demonstrations. Initially, trainees used artificial rather than fresh flowers, necessitating development of a streamlined floral design project plan. Through collaboration with three flower farmers, we developed a floral design prototype. Our growers produced the flowers based on this model and extension provided registration support and media that facilitated locally grown flowers use in workshops. As a result, we connected 47 consumers directly to our producers. Flower growers felt the project was worthwhile and desire future extension partnerships.

Virtual reality (VR) may be useful for situating school-based vocational education in work-life by simulating a work situation such that learners viewing this VR work situation are located inside it. The reason for this assumption is that VR can fully spatially include its viewer. Research on the utility of viewer-including VR work situations for learners has, therefore, already started. However, no study has yet investigated their utility for teachers. This is particularly relevant for work situations involving environmental planning, as VR is expected to facilitate such a task. We, therefore, asked horticultural teachers to assess the educational usefulness of a VR work situation when they were located outside and inside it. For this purpose, we enabled them to plan a basic garden in the VR work situation when its environment was spatially excluding them and when it was including them. We found the teachers to perceive the viewer-including VR work situation as more useful for their teaching than its viewer-excluding version. This suggests that the perceived educational usefulness of a VR work situation depends on the spatial relation of its viewer and environment, that is, the spatial human-environment relation it involves.

This paper is a call for educators to respond to the problematics that arise from reducing the Earth to a resource for human activities. The concept of 'Anthropocene' is a burning invitation to rethink education by putting the human to its place. We therefore argue for a spatial-embodied conceptualization of learning, which involves the more-than-human and nonrepresentational. In this effort, we use Latour's concept of 'geostory' to problematize the prevailing anthropocentrism in education. We discuss the power of experimentation by introducing a learning experiment that took place at a pop-up greenhouse in Helsinki. The idea was to encourage upper secondary geography students to playfully discard their human perspective and study the city from the viewpoint of plants: to probe the presumed human/nature divide through brief but moving encounters with 'others'. We argue that through affective encounters with nonhuman others, the Earth speaks: it tells stories with us. If humans let themselves be addressed by these encounters, geostories can temporarily re-place human-centred narrative storytelling practices (histories), voiced by the modernist 'I', and generate alternative forms of knowledge that emerge from our belonging together. These stories emerging from geographical experimentation entail potential to cultivate both knowing and care that exceed the human.

We conducted a case study on the implementation of an adult mentoring program designed to connect land-grant university graduate students who participated in a transdisciplinary and multi-institutional research project with industry professionals for the purpose of exposing students to industry practices. Seven mentees and six mentors participated in the study. We employed the theory of planned behavior to inform findings regarding participants' behavioral, normative, and control beliefs surrounding professional performance and goal attainment. Program outcomes were positive for student career development, for example expanding graduate students' professional networks and sharing research findings with industry professionals. However, the COVID-19 pandemic hindered the mentoring program's success by adding stress and travel restrictions that prevented full engagement in the program by all parties. Recommendations for improving the program's success include providing participants with better support mechanisms for initiating mentoring relationships and encouraging mentees to develop coping mechanisms when faced with cognitive overload and communication apprehension.

This study was designed to understand the current state of wildlife-friendly landscape maintenance practices and the associated barriers and motivations among Florida green industry professionals. A Delphi technique to achieve consensus, along with descriptive survey questions, was used to facilitate feedback from Florida-based green industry professionals and Extension professionals. The expert panel identified 55 wildlife-friendly landscape activities, 25 barrier items, and 25 motivator items. Descriptive findings showed that green industry professionals believe, on average, Florida residents request wildlife-friendly maintenance services less frequently than wildlife-friendly landscape services are offered by Florida green industry professionals. Consensus findings demonstrated the barriers with the greatest agreement were a lack of public awareness about wildlife-friendly landscaping, its ecological and environmental benefits, professional focus on profit, homeowner association (HOA) regulations, and demand for formal landscape aesthetics. Consensus findings also revealed Florida green industry's major motivators were clients' demand for native, Florida-Friendly plants and wildlife-supporting landscapes, the desire to promote the company as wildlife-friendly, and public interest in native and Florida-Friendly Landscaping. Extension professionals, along with policymakers, educators, and program planners should reduce the identified barriers and expand on the motivators to encourage green industry professionals to engage in landscape maintenance activities that support wildlife.

Campus agricultural projects (CAPs) are campus farms or gardens where students learn to grow food. With at least 286 CAPs at institutions of higher education across the United States, this study seeks to understand the impact that participation in intensive internships at CAPs has on students and how student experiences align with the missions of CAPs. We used mixed ethnographic methods to collect rich, longitudinal data with 23 students enrolled in semester-long internships at one particular CAP over the course of three semesters. Drawing on thematic analysis, we identify themes that capture what students are learning and experiencing in these spaces. Results from this study demonstrate that students participating in these internships gain not only agricultural and horticultural skills from hands-on learning, but also interpersonal skills (i.e., teamwork and communication) and practical skills (i.e., changing a tire). Over the course of the semester, we see students gain confidence from these skills and develop self-efficacy in their ability to face challenges and tackle new tasks in the future. Notably, students also develop a strong sense of community within these spaces. Finally, although students express a lingering disconnect between their work and its specific contribution to the community, we find that students can gain insights into service and community engagement in a service-learning focused CAP.

Controlling unwanted annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.) in desirable turfgrass species often relies heavily on herbicide use. As a result, increasing populations of herbicide-resistant annual bluegrass have become a concern. In 2018, a university research and extension initiative began addressing the increasing herbicide-resistant annual bluegrass epidemic. Preliminary findings produced by this research initiative were presented to golf course employees at the 2022 Golf Course Superintendents Association of American Educational Conference in San Diego, California. Findings were presented by a panel of scientists working on various annual bluegrass research sub-objectives. A survey was designed to match the sub-objectives within this panel presentation and determine what recommendations the attendees were most likely to use. The survey also identified environmental zones where participants originated and what turfgrass species they are managing in various areas of the golf course. The goal of sharing these survey findings is to assist turfgrass extension specialists and managers interested in designing annual bluegrass management programs that match stakeholder needs. Survey results determined that extension material pertaining to controlling annual bluegrass with cultural practices would interest the largest stakeholder cross section regardless of environmental turfgrass zone. Another major topic was annual bluegrass emergence patterns for herbicide timing, which was the most important or interesting topic for golf course employees in the warm-season turfgrass environmental zone.

This article reflects on 4 years of research activities in the fields of horticulture and creative praxis. The initial project was a personal one and set out with a simple methodology of collecting, observing, and recording a specific genus of plants, that of Mentha. But as the specific question of whether a garden can, or should, be thought of as a work of art was raised it developed into an interactive, more-than-human dynamic between the researcher and multiple species. Ultimately, this led to a consideration of the positionality and interactions of the creative practitioner as critical, in order to develop a transdisciplinary praxis that explores the ecological and transformative potential of learning and healing through gardening. Through a reflexive narrative approach, the role of gardening in education, therefore, is positioned as an art and design praxis and as a partial remedy for several salient, contemporary global issues and challenges. A praxis that if not the complete remedy might at least help, in part, to remedy the damaging ecological experiences of adult and child learners alike, and as such, this article concludes with a provocation for teachers as artists and activists.

Extension professionals help important agricultural sectors across the country resolve challenges using science-based practices that enhance environmental and social wellbeing while supporting businesses. Nursery and greenhouse growers comprise one of the largest sectors of U.S. agriculture, and this group is challenged to conserve water without compromising their economic viability. While Extension professionals educate and support nursery and greenhouse growers, there is a deficiency of research on adoption processes within this sector. To better understand this important Extension audience, this research examined the influence of critical thinking and problem-solving style on perceived characteristics of water conservation technologies and in turn the perceived characteristics relationship with their implementation. A route to adoption was established to inform effective Extension activities that promote water conservation. Problem-solving style predicts trialability while critical thinking style predicts none of the five characteristics of innovations. Of the five characteristics of water conservation innovations, relative advantage, trialability, and observability play a role in nursery and greenhouse growers' implementation, and implementation does influence adoption. When designing water conservation programs for nursery and greenhouse growers, Extension professionals should consider participants' problem-solving style and incorporate strategies to increase trialability, relative advantage, and observability.

Many students currently in preservice agricultural education teacher education programs do not have traditional agricultural backgrounds. Many of those students are experiencing skills they will be required to teach or utilize upon employment for the first and sometimes only time in introductory course work within their teacher education programs. This study utilized an expert panel from within the Southern Region of the American Association of Agricultural Education (AAAE) composed of teacher educators, teachers that have taught for more than five years (veteran teachers), and teachers with less than three years' experience (new teachers) in a modified Delphi technique to develop a consensus list of technical agricultural skills that preservice agricultural teachers should possess prior to their first teaching job. Beginning agricultural education teacher skills were declared across seven categories. The agricultural mechanics category had the most (31 skills), followed by horticulture (24 skills), and animal science (14 skills). The remaining skills fell in the categories of business/program management (8 skills), natural resources/soils (5 skills), food safety/food science (5 skills), and safety (4 skills). An emergent finding showed differences in opinions between new teachers, veteran teachers, and teacher educators in how many skills new teachers should possess.

CITYgreen Geographic Information Systems software was used to develop a campus wide cover type map for Stephen F. Austin State University in an environmental science landscape ecology course. The finding indicated an equal division of forest cover type compared to impervious surface of buildings and paved surface. Once the classification was completed, students chose an area for reforestation identified in CITYgreen, while raising funds for the purchase of trees for the project. Before completing the project, students reviewed tenets of landscape ecology, civic ecology education, and benefits of urban forestry. At the completion of the project, students reviewed service-learning aspects of campus beautification reflecting on making a difference, working outdoors, and using high end technology to complete a real-world environmental project incorporating partnerships and teamwork. The outcome demonstrates the benefits of applying ecological planning to complete an environmental project based on a perceived need within a campus setting.

University-led service-learning projects are commonly perceived as being mutually beneficial for students, faculty, and communities. Most studies primarily focus on benefits to students. Our study explores the value of a university-led service-learning engagement project from a community's perspective. To assess perceptions of a student planning and design project, pre- and post-questionnaires were completed by community members and city staff. Findings show the community had an immediate positive response during the project. However, we question the long-term effects of service-learning for communities if tangible outcomes from engagement projects are not realized. Implications are intended to be useful for university teaching faculty considering service-learning, university administrators evaluating such efforts, and for community members, civic leaders, and city staff considering partnering with universities for education outreach and engagement projects.

Based on the reminiscence therapy, the research aimed to develop the horticultural program with life contexts for the elderly in southern Taiwan, and to explore the effect on overall cognitive function of the elderly. The participants were 17 seniors in one community care center. The research adopted quasi-experimental research of one group pre-test and post-test design of time series, and data were collected by questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews. The objective of the program was to maintain cognitive function of the elderly. Twelve activities of the program were implemented once a week and 2 hours for each activity. The program included manual activity, group activity, and outdoor planting activity. The program content was based on farming experience of the elderly and integrated with diverse cognitive function trainings. It was found that the program showed immediate effect and two-week delay effect on promoting overall cognitive function of the elderly. Also, the elderly obtained new planting experience and their learning motivation was enhanced. Additionally, because of integrating with life contexts, the program was meaningful and encouraged the elderly to be engaged in the activities and recall the past. In the process, the elderly enjoyed the exchange of horticulture and life experience.

This paper examines the experiences of one adult educator's engagement with Freire's praxis through teaching horticulture. The principal belief of the paper is that engaging in critical dialogue and reflexive action is an evolving journey of unlearning and hope for both learners and educators. The paper suggests that trusting in Freire's humanising education has implications beyond individual adult learners to encompass larger socio-ecological issues of our time.

The date palm occupies a special place in the Arab cultural heritage in general, and the Omani heritage in particular. The development of the agricultural sector and date palms cultivation depend mainly on the human factor represented by the farmlands with scientific skills and knowledge. This study explores Omani school students' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors towards date palms in light of two variables: gender and geographical area. The research follows a descriptive method, where a questionnaire consisting of 50 phrases about the date palms was distributed (25 knowledge, 15 attitudes, and 10 behaviors). The sample consisted of 894 students (447 males and 447 females) randomly selected from different schools in two geographically different governorates or regions (Muscat and Dakhiliya). The results showed a lack in students' knowledge of date palms, while they showed positive attitudes and behaviors. Knowledge about date palms among male and female students is the same, but attitudes and behaviors are more positive with male students than female students. In addition, students who live in Al-Dakhiliya (Interior) Governorate have more favorable attitudes and behaviors than those living in Muscat Governorate. The results also showed statistically significant differences at ([alpha] = 0.05) in the students' attitudes and behaviors on the date palms due to the existence of date palms in their homes or a family member working in the agricultural field. This study highlights the importance of developing a strategic plan to generate interest in date palms among school students across Oman.

Agriscience teachers help support the mission of the American Floral Endowment to inspire people to pursue careers working with plants by providing curricula related to ornamental horticulture. Nevertheless, an overall understanding of how the horticulture industry is connected to the studies of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has left a shortage of skilled professionals. A professional development program was designed to provide agriscience teachers with experiences focused on STEM concepts taught in horticulture and floriculture curricula. The Science Teaching Efficacy Belief (STEB) instrument was used before and after the three days of content specific inquiry-based instruction to determine participants' perceptions of their performance pre, post, and post-post. While teachers showed growth in their mean scores for the Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy (STOE) and Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs (PSTEB) constructs of the STEB between all three testing periods, no significant difference was found across the period-of-time. It is recommended that teacher educators consider how to create professional development experiences for agriscience teachers that target content to positively impact teacher self-efficacy. Further, it is recommended that professional development opportunities contain follow-up communication to determine whether teachers utilize curricular resources and ascertain how the teacher's new knowledge is transferred to inform instructional change. The final recommendation is to measure student learning outcomes as a result of content-specific teacher professional development.

Competence-based education and training (CBE/T) has been implemented in Ethiopia to develop the competences of (future) professionals and to improve their performance. However, empirical evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of CBE/T is scarce. Positioning the study within the theory of strategic alignment and comprehensive competence-based training, we used the authentic core job task 'On-Site Helping of Farmers during the Planting of Maize', of Development Agents as problem context and conducted an experimental-longitudinal research study including multirater performance assessment. The study compared competence development of the Development Agents who received training that could be characterized as 'High-CBT' (N = 33) and 'Low-CBT' (N = 32). 'High-CBT' means that in these training programmes, principles of competence-based training were used more completely than in the 'Low-CBT' programmes. Experts rated the competence levels of the Development Agents and Development Agents rated their own competence levels. Both groups did that before and after the training. Individual Development Agent performance was also rated by Trained Assessors. Longitudinally, Development Agent performance data was collected during one production year at three points in time. Development Agent's competence development in the 'High-CBT' training condition was higher than in the 'Low-CBT' condition. Observations made on each Development Agent's performance by Trained Assessors both in the Farmer Training Centres and in the authentic job situations, generally confirmed better performance of the 'High-CBT' group compared with the 'Low-CBT' group. The finding contributes to the state of research on the relationship between competence development and performance improvement, which is theoretically postulated although less empirically tested.

The aim of this study is to present the details of a practice that is carried out within the scope of Community Service Practices Course from a scientific perspective. And also to investigate the views of the pre-service teachers related to the topic. Research design is determined as a case study method. For the data collection, interview method was used from qualitative data collection methods. The sample is composed of 8 pre-service primary school teachers. Within the relevant course, a potted flower to be determined by the pre-service teachers was planted in a pot in a suitable place in the faculty, and the students were given the task of undertaking all kinds of care for the flower during the semester. Semi-structured interviews with the pre-service teachers were held at the end of the term and their opinions were taken. According to the results, all of the pre-service teachers find the implementation useful and important for their teaching career. They stated that they got information about flower care, they gained awareness and they were impressed affectively.

Experiential learning is invaluable when promoting interdisciplinary approaches to teaching complex issues. This article reports on a five-week collaboration between undergraduate students in social work and landscape architecture courses, project impetus being a common-reading text. Students (n=54) constructed three-dimensional models of children's playgrounds and prepared academic posters describing restorative interventions based on their service-learning experiences with community partners. Projects were displayed at university-sponsored workshops. Participation in common reading programs has promising implications for interdisciplinary collaboration.

Education of adults with intellectual disabilities in labor activities can help them to successfully and repeatedly carry out their work tasks and significantly help their self-realization. The problem is that the need for frequent repetition of already learned skills requires the constant presence of a teacher or caregiver since such a worker is not able to work independently. This situation increases the cost of employing people with disabilities. The aim is to find a way to reduce the necessary number of caregivers needed in this kind of activity and enable greater self-sufficiency of workers. The presented research intended to verify whether a web course could be an effective educational tool for people with intellectual disabilities. During the research, a group of ten participants with intellectual disabilities was educated to acquire basic skills in horticulture. The first teaching was realized through practical demonstrations at the workplace in the university production garden by professional gardeners. After these demonstrations skills of all participants were verified and so the basic level for further verification and comparison of knowledge was set. Subsequently, using three approaches of repeating the already learned practical curriculum (verbal repetition, no repetition, and repetition using the web course) and different time intervals, the level of knowledge of each participant was verified. Statistical methods were used to compare the results of different repetition approaches. Research results demonstrated that a web course, with specific content that consists of video or animation, combined with the use of pictograms for confident navigation, can be used by people with intellectual disabilities with good results. At the same time, in addition to practical teaching, this was the second best-rated approach of repeating knowledge. Using a web course, participants achieved similar work results as they did in practical teaching.

In recent years, technological advances had an impact on the field of education, and computer technologies were started to be used mainly in visual arts, architecture and planning departments in colleges. However, applications such as the use of conventional drawing tools and graphical techniques, sketching, drawing plans, sections, and elevations on paper and production of models are still prevalent in landscape architecture, architecture, interior design or planning departments. Digital technologies are also utilized as supplementary tools. The current article scrutinized student attitudes towards digital and conventional drawing methods in landscape architecture department environmental design studios and the impact of these techniques on the academic success in the course. The study was conducted with KTU Landscape Architecture Department students. Initially, an analysis of variance was conducted to determine whether there was a difference between student attitudes towards conventional and digital drawing techniques in environmental design studio. It was determined that there was a difference between the attitudes of the students between the items 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23 in the scale that contained statements (23 items) to measure student attitudes (p < 0.05), and no difference was observed between the student attitudes in remaining items (p > 0.05). The highest difference was found (F = 168.200) in item 23, followed by items 18 (F = 106,290), 10 (F = 104,533), and 14 (F = 103.292). In the second stage, to determine the effects of using digital or conventional drawing techniques in landscape design studio on the student achievement in the course, a quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pre-test post-test model with control group. It was determined that the pretest findings had a significant effect on both groups (p < 0.05). Digital and conventional drawing techniques that students learned in environmental design studio were correlated with their academic achievements and the difference between the groups was significant.

This study examined factors that shape how nursery growers perceive automated nursery technologies and evaluate how these perceptions relate to growers' adoption. We applied Rogers' (2003) Diffusion of Innovations to understand growers' perceptions of automated technologies to inform Extension programming serving niche audiences in the nursery and horticulture arenas. Data were collected via a mixed-mode survey and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. Nursery growers indicated fairly strong perceptions of observability, relative advantage, and compatibility. Automated nursery technologies were not perceived as being complex. Notably, perceptions of trialability were low. Compatibility, complexity, and trialability predicted growers' current adoption of automated technologies. Relative advantage, complexity, and compatibility predicted the future adoption of automated nursery technologies. Compatibility was the most important predictor of both current use and the likelihood of adopting automated nursery technologies. Extension professionals, researchers, and others who support the nursery industry can use these findings to encourage the adoption of technological innovations. Chiefly, automated nursery technologies need to be designed with compatibility in mind (e.g., adaptable to nursery operations' existing infrastructure, values, and goals). Uptake could be accelerated by emphasizing compatibility (e.g., conveying how these technologies can be integrated into existing systems and how the current labor force's skillsets can be applied to new technologies). This study considered a suite of automated nursery technologies to provide a starting point in developing and diffusing these types of innovations. Future research should examine the characteristics of specific technologies to pinpoint precise strategies aimed at behavioral adoption.

Background: Case study is widely used in teaching and learning literature; however, the extant literature contains few examples of student-developed case studies. This study used the situated perspective of experiential education (EE) to highlight context and legitimate peripheral participation encouraging enculturation into research communities of practice. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of a mini-ethnographic case study (MECS) during an international service-learning (ISL) experience to transform ISL and EE pedagogy through the inquiry-as-EL approach. The MECS design is a research method that uses an ethnographic approach bounded within case study methodology. Methodology/Approach: Working collaboratively, four students designed and implemented an MECS research project during an ISL. Using the crafted profile technique, data were analyzed to evaluate the impact of the MECS design on the students' experience and research skill development while in country. Findings/Conclusions: The MECS approach helped students develop their own exploratory research framework and have real-world experiences with data collection, analysis, and dissemination as emerging researchers. Implications: This study describes how the MECS design can be used as a tool to enhance service-learning experiences for students, especially during graduate education.

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explain the development of preservice agriculture teachers' PCK [Pedagogical Content Knowledge] for the concept of plant fertilizers within a content-focused methods course. The emergent central phenomenon was an overall lack of PCK development for plant fertilizers, highlighted by five main themes that impeded the development. Preservice teachers felt less self-efficacious in horticulture content knowledge and possessed a greater desire for horticulture content knowledge over pedagogical knowledge. Additionally, the preservice teachers exhibited development of horticulture content knowledge and mathematics content knowledge through the unit. Finally, the lack of a content knowledge foundation inhibited the development of PCK in preservice teachers, despite the purpose of the course and vision of the instructor. Recommendations include more purposeful integration of PCK at the preservice level, utilization of tools like the CoRe rubric (Loughran, Mulhall, & Berry, 2004) during lesson planning, increased field experience imbedded in the teacher preparation program, and a more careful examination of the preservice teachers' pre-existing content knowledge base prior to enrollment in the content-focused methods course.

Written scientific communication, such as laboratory reports, are important components of undergraduate education within the sciences. Since most Horticultural Science majors offer lecture- and lab-based courses, students often write laboratory reports for many courses across the curriculum and these reports comprise a large percentage of the writing assignments in these classes. Instructors link learning objectives with laboratory reports to reinforce course content. Students have noted inconsistencies across horticulture courses in requirements for laboratory report writing, which often leads to confusion. Thus, development of a grading rubric would improve the continuity of expectations of laboratory report writing and grading within a Horticultural Science curriculum for instructors teaching courses requiring laboratory reports. When focusing just on laboratory writing in the curriculum, surveys and interviews indicated that a disconnect exists between what instructors expect of their students and what the stated learning outcomes were for their courses. Student's ability to analyze results was seen as both a strength and weakness, as reported from faculty responses. In lower division courses, analyzing results from student's experiments was a weakness while in upper division courses faculty responses were mixed as to whether students had the skills to sufficiently analyze results from their experiments. When a grading rubric was trialed, students indicated that use of the same rubric in other Horticultural Science courses would demystify the process of conducting research and communicating it effectively in laboratory reports. For this work to expand, one or more standard rubrics need to be developed for use by Horticultural Science courses within an institution to enhance our students' abilities to become competent writers in this form of scientific communication. A baseline rubric for courses at the 3000 level was developed to serve as a template to further this process.

The environmental issues surrounding agrochemical products facing people today include serious health and ecological problems. Scientific literacy is necessary for students to understand scientific knowledge and get ready for the future world. Therefore, this action research aims to promote scientific literacy, in the area of plant growth by using the Science, Technology, Society and Environment (STSE) approach that consists of 4 steps: 1) motivation; 2) exploration; 3) brainstorming; and 4) decision making. The participants are 35 special program students in grade 11. The PISA-like test and worksheets were used to collect data. Content analysis and triangulation were used to indicate the development of scientific literacy. The findings show that the students have better scientific literacy and higher competencies in explaining phenomena scientifically, evaluating and designing scientific inquiry and interpreting data and evidence scientifically. This study suggests that student collaboration is essential to improve the scientific literacy of students.

We report and reflect on three projects, carried out by us as educators and technology researchers over a four year period, that explore the use of mobile technologies in the fieldwork of Australian tertiary students of architectural history, landscape history and urban design. Treating these as three case studies, our focus is on the emerging process of designing, developing and deploying different forms of mobile-inspired fieldwork to complement class-based learning. The first two cases involve the development of apps that work as guides for students to explore places of architectural and historical significance in Melbourne, while the third case invited students themselves to create designs for a mobile app intended to communicate the influence of urban design thinkers on a particular place in Sydney. We consider how the iterative development and deployment of the apps and field exercises, over successive semesters, became one of extended co-design between students, tutors and teaching staff.

Purpose: Gardens are being used at all educational stages, because they provide with a real-world context for active and experiential learning. In Spain, there exists a movement in favor of their incorporation to higher education for a variety of purposes but prevalently as an innovative resource to teach sciences to pre-service teachers. The purpose of this study is assessing the impacts of such pedagogical practice on university students' learning and behavioral changes in the areas of environmental and food citizenship, two key dimensions of contemporary citizenship that are essential to achieve sustainable societies. Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected by means of an electronic, open-ended question survey completed by 170 students from 6 different universities where gardens are used. Answers were qualitatively analyzed using MAXQDA software to develop a system of content categories and subcategories in relation to reported learning and behavioral changes. Findings: Widespread among universities was learning on organic agriculture practices, greater appreciation of agricultural labor, greater willingness to cultivate, higher awareness of environmental impacts of agriculture, improved behaviors regarding waste separation and enhanced fruit and vegetable consumption. Originality/value: This work delves into how university gardens act as a vehicle through which students integrate knowledge and reflect on their environmental, food and consumption behaviors. Thus, it supports on evidences, the use of gardens at higher education to nurture two dimensions of contemporary citizenship essential to achieve sustainability.

In this paper, we describe a new course that we developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: 'Horticulture 380: Indigenous Foodways'. In consultation with Indigenous partners in the region, we sought to create a course focused on the foodways of Indigenous peoples of the Upper Great Lakes and to center Indigenous knowledge systems as they relate to food and farming--perspectives that have generally been absent from horticultural and agricultural curricula. To offer this course, we partnered with Indigenous people from across the region as well as the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, providing students with experiential learning opportunities in Indigenous foodways of the region that included tapping maple trees for syrup, butchering deer, cooking with the three sisters (corn, beans, and squash), and spearfishing. Students learned to connect foodways to place and to land in a fundamentally different way than that of the industrialized food system. Incorporating courses like these into agricultural curricula begins to expand agricultural education and learning opportunities for all students.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many courses were forced online. This posed particular challenges for courses with laboratory or hands-on components. A group of instructors at the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Madison designed an online, asynchronous course structure for teaching introductory horticulture courses with laboratory components. Uniquely, the courses described in this article, while delivered through the online teaching platform Canvas, focused on developing hands-on activities that got students away from their computers to observe, work with, and grow plants. The course included hands-on activities that complemented lecture readings and videos and guided students through designing and setting up experiments in their homes. We heard many positive reviews from student course evaluations for this style of course and want to share the structure and the types of experiential activities we included to engage students with plants and the process of science, as well as lessons that we learned while teaching in this online learning environment. We found that the ability to care for and observe plants on a daily basis wove together the lecture and lab materials in ways that were not previously seen during in-person courses. As instructors, we would adapt some of the components of these online courses into our in-person courses in the future.

Plants are crucial parts of ecosystems but are traditionally considered boring and difficult by students. It is therefore not clear whether factual knowledge about plants contributes to building positive attitudes and interest in botany. We investigated whether factual knowledge about monocotyledonous plants is associated with secondary students' attitudes toward and interest in plants. Furthermore, we examined whether self-reported plant cultivation experiences and gender differences exist in attitudes toward plants. Factual knowledge about monocotyledonous plants significantly correlated with attitudes toward plants and these attitudes were greatly influenced by interest in botany, ecology, evolution, and zoology, but not with other, more distant biological disciplines (e.g. microbiology, or health and nutrition). Females received better scores in knowledge and attitudes toward plants, but interest in plants was similar between males and females. We suggest that (1) factual knowledge in botany is essential in building positive attitudes toward plants and that (2) inter-connections between botany with zoology, ecology and evolution may help with elimination of plant blindness and building positive attitudes toward plants.

Extended Curriculum Programmes have a responsibility to validate the resources and experiences students bring to their learning environment. However, designing assessment practices that encourage diverse students to draw on their resources in order to both access and challenge disciplinary discourses can be complex. This article is framed in terms of how students balance their own experiential knowledge while engaging with the disciplinary discourse. It aims to interrogate students' negotiation of the "contact zone" and how they negotiate their brought-along resources with assessment guidelines. A multimodal social semiotic approach is taken to explore ways of contributing to a socially just pedagogy by enabling recognition of a range of students' resources, while at the same time acknowledging the need to access the conventions of the discipline. We argue for recognition as the positive side of assessment, which could enable more diverse students' resources to be acknowledged. We interrogate the meaning-making trajectories of two students, Xola and Sonwabo, in a first-year landscape architecture course. While both students bring their own resources into a spatial model project, they each have varying "success" in mediating these in relation to the dominant conventions of landscape architectural design.

This paper explores the notion of "productive risk" as a way of understanding how diverse students can become re-makers of landscape architectural design practices and education. We trace the design trajectories of two first-year students at a South African tertiary institution and examine how the students negotiate the risk of drawing on their own experiences and resources in order to access conventionalised disciplinary practices. It is important to recognise students' brought-along resources, but we also need to recognise the risk involved for the students and teachers in drawing on these resources. This risk needs to be seen in the light of a history of colonised education where diverse resources and experiences were often disregarded or devalued. We show how these students contextualise landscape architecture in terms of their own experiences and draw on their resources as prompts to space-making for the imagined users of their designs. We surface the risk in terms of students' experiential resources as well as the use of unusual model-building materials and techniques. The high levels of engagement that these two students demonstrate in their design trajectories reveal the importance of making a connection between diverse contexts and the landscape architectural classroom. We argue that a pedagogy that embraces risk as productive can recognise and validate the rich knowledge, resources and experiences that students bring with them.

We designed an interdisciplinary project-based learning course in hydroponics for undergraduate non-science major students. Students worked in teams to design, build, and maintain plants in various types of hydroponic systems over the semester. In three semesters of teaching the course, students consistently demonstrated knowledge of course material and became confident in growing plants by hydroponic methods. Students reported the project-based, team-based, and mini-lecture aspects of the course increased their learning and motivation in the course.

The fundamental concepts employed by City as Text™ (CAT)--the established experiential learning practice in honors education-and the discipline of geography, specifically the landscape tradition within human geography, share much in common. The overlaps offer CAT practitioners additional intellectual support from a source outside of honors while the differences suggest opportunities for incorporating new material into CAT programs. While CAT and the landscape tradition share the general concepts of professional orientations grounded in place, of close attention to place, and of place as a text to be read, the landscape tradition offers specific terminology to support and build on these shared concepts: landscape as unwitting autobiography, landscape as an act of will, landscape in a continuous process of becoming, landscape as power, and object orientation vs. people orientation. Since readers of "Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council" ("JNCHC") are far more likely to be familiar with CAT than with the landscape tradition, the Appendix offers an annotated list of key texts in human geography's tradition of landscape scholarship that may have immediate use and resonance for those working in CAT programs.