Huertos EcoDidácticos y Educación para la Sostenibilidad. Experiencias educativas para el desarrollo de competencias del profesorado en formación inicial.

Organic Learning Gardens are foof gardens which are sustainably managed based on the principles of organic agriculture or permaculture, and whose main purpose is educational. They are currently present at some Spanish universities, generally as the result of isolated initiatives of a particular professor or knowledge area, either belonging to the field of experimental sciences or of science teaching. They constitute educational resources and learning environments of a great value for implementing active methodologies directed towards promoting students' competencies for sustainability. We provide with two educational experiences structured around the use of Organic Learning Gardens in the context of initial teacher training, and framed, respectively, in a project for teaching innovation and a project for innovation in sustainability: firstly, the development of a teaching and learning sequence around the use of biocides for the Degree in Early-Childhood Education, at the Faculty of Education in Soria (University of Valladolid, UVa), and secondly, an educational intervention around the use of composting for organic waste' management for the Degree in Primary Education at the Faculty of Education and Sport in Vitoria-Gasteiz (University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU). Finally, reflections are presented on the use of Organic Learning Gardens as educative contexts in the frame of Higher Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]