I inherited a library that was built in the 1970s. It is one open room with two walls of windows. We barely have enough room for bookshelves and books let a lone classes of 30 students at a time. Needless to say, space is something I struggle with on a daily basis. I am sure the original designers of the building thought the room would be big enough for future use, but they could not envision how the space would be used 45+ years in the future.
I am also trying to think about how to incorporate a makerspace into the library with limited space and COVID restrictions where students cannot share the same materials and have to stay six feet apart. So, I started thinking outside my library literally and figuratively. Our head school nurse encourages students to be outside in the fresh air as much as possible, and my my library opens up into a courtyard. A garden could be the perfect solution to my space and COVID dilemmas.
Implementing a Garden Makerspace
The blog posts at kidsgardening.org give helpful hints and practical solutions on why schools should have gardens and how to implement them. In her first blog, Sarah Pounders states that "Every student needs to have an in-depth, hands-on experience to develop a sense of ownership." Her ideas are supported by Angevine and Weisgrau, but they call it "agency" instead of ownership (p. 2). According to Angevine and Weisgrau, agency is "the fuel to empower students to make their learning intimately personal and unique to their own goals and lived experiences" (p. 2). Both the article and the blog show the importance of ownership. When students have authentic ownership opportunities, they are more invested in the project and will have better end results.
In the second blog post, Pounders gives an overview of the basic tools that are needed to start a successful garden. Having the right tools allows for greater students involvement. Quoting Gershenfeld, Britton states "[i]nstead of trying to interest kids in science as received knowledge, it's possible to equip them to do science, giving them both the knowledge and the tools to discover it (p. 4). As students work in the garden makerspace, they will be learning a skill that they can use throughout their life.
In her third blog post, Pounders gives tips on using available community resources to help with the garden. Help may come in the form of funds or expertise. Britton believes that "[c]ommunity members are at the heart of any Maker space, regardless of its location" (p. 4). A school garden is a large undertaking and cannot be done without help from students and the community. In South Carolina, Clemson extensions for each county and the National Farm to School Network can help provide resources, training, and sometime extra hands.
In the fourth blog post, Pounders shows the need for flexibility. The garden needs fit student needs and the time that students have to work in the garden. This also fits in with the ideas proposed by Angevine and Weisgrau. Working in a makerspacce helps students see their own place in the world (p. 3). Students can plant gardens that represent concepts learned in classes or just flowers that they enjoy. Students can share plants and vegetables with each other creating an authentic learning experience for all involved. Pounders gives examples of these different types of gardens in her fourth blog post.
In her last blog post Pounders shows the need for reflection and evaluation of the makerspace. She has students fill out a Google form for feedback. Through her analysis and reflection, she realized that she needed to connect the garden to the curriculum. Angevine and Weisgrau echo these sentiments by stating that "[p]rojects that do not allow students to build on what the already understand inevitably, and visibly, fail (pgs. 2-3). Luckily for me, gardening fits within all middle school science standards. Our library collection has many resources that connect to gardening. As part of the makerspace, students can read about gardening how to cultivate plants.
Video of how a school garden works
Benefits of a School Garden
Gardening has many benefits especially during the pandemic. Gardening gets students outside in the sunlight helping to make vitamin D. Gardening is exercise. Gardening helps with moods and can be a calming influence for students. Gardening fosters interaction and connectivity with others and the earth. Gardening gives students a sense of accomplishment as they watch their plants grow (Stanborough, 2020).
During this pandemic when space and time are at a premium, a garden makerspace can help students inside and outside of the classroom. The garden has real world curriculum connections to science and math. Students can develop their social emotional skills in the garden as well. The garden can be a calming influence in the chaotic situation that teachers and students find themselves in this school year. Gardens can be expensive, so seek out grants and community partnerships to help get started. As with any makerspace, start small. If it is not feasible to plant a plot of land, start with pots and containers and go from there. As you, teachers, and students get more comfortable with the ins and outs of gardening, you can add more beds and plants. Be willing to learn from mistakes and set backs. Sometimes plants will die, and seeds may not germinate. Every perceived failure is a learning opportunity. Embrace them and learn from them!
Cactus Container Garden courtesy of Linda Parks
Works Cited
Angevine, C., & Weisgrau, J. (2015, September 24). Situating Makerspaces in Schools. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://hybridpedagogy.org/situating-makerspaces-in-schools/
Britton, L. (2012, October 1). The Makings of Maker Spaces, Part 1: Space for Creation, Not Just Consumption. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/10/public-services/the-makings-of-maker-spaces-part-1-space-for-creation-not-just-consumption/
Pounders, S. (2017, March 16). KidsGardening Growing Ideas Blog - School Garden Tip #1: Create a Sense of Ownership. Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://kidsgardening.org/school-garden-tip-1-create-a-sense-of-ownership/
Pounders, S. (2017, March 30). KidsGardening Growing Ideas Blog - School Garden Tip #2: My Favorite Tools. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://kidsgardening.org/school-garden-tip-2-my-favorite-tools/
Pounders, S. (2017, April 27). KidsGardening Growing Ideas Blog - School Garden Tip #3: Invest in Your Soil. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://kidsgardening.org/school-garden-tip-3-invest-in-your-soil/
Pounders, S. (2017, May 25). KidsGardening Growing Ideas Blog: School Garden Tip #4 - Allow Teachers to Chart Their Garden Journey. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://kidsgardening.org/school-garden-tip-4-allow-teachers-to-chart-their-garden-journey/
Pounders, S. (n.d.). Sarah Pounders Archives – KidsGardening Growing Ideas Blog. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://kidsgardening.org/category/sarah-pounders/page/5/
Stanborough, R. (2020, June 17). 10 Benefits of Gardening, Plus Helpful Tips & Recommendations. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://www.healthline.com/health/healthful-benefits-of-gardening
Images courtesy of
Parsons, Catherine. p1020211.jpeg 2005. Pics4Learning. 4 Nov 2020.
Oaks, Linda. cactusgarden.jpeg. 2007. Pics4Learning. 5 Nov 2020
What a FANTASTIC idea!! My children's elementary school has a garden, which is connected to both the art classroom and the library. I love your proposal to think of it as an extension of the makerspace! Just FYI, the librarian at my children's elementary school, who is my mentor, doesn't have space for a makerspace either so she has two small sets of wheeled drawers that she uses. She just wheels them out when kids want to make. It works pretty well.
Thanks for the suggestion! I am working on cleaning out some spaces to see what I can use for my makerspace. Wheeled carts will help a lot with storage and management.
I love this idea! I'm a big fan of gardens, and I 100% agree that kids would really benefit from digging in the dirt. Honestly, if I could design a school, half or maybe 1/3 of the day would be spent outside gardening, farming, hiking, etc. I've thought about a garden for our public library as well, since my local public library sits on a large plot of land. I don't know if they would consider a garden, but it is certainly possible. I wonder what types of funding would be available to help create a school library garden? Thank you for sharing this idea -- I had never thought of a garden as a markerspace!
Your idea of an outdoor garden makerspace is wonderful! I love gardens although I do not have a green thumb. This maker area solves your space limitations and can work in today's pandemic environment. You made a strong connection between the garden and how it can provide the agency or ownership concept. Kids can actively participate in a hands-on activity and apply their knowledge of gardening and the environment while creating something of their own. The growth of the garden will be a reflection of their work. In addition it will take continual effort from students. They will become invested in it and overtime will see the benefits from their commitment. It will also as you addressed in your blog, help to teach kids a life skill. I found it interesting how your maker idea also involves community effort. You will be engaging the students not only with one another but with community members as well. Local gardening advocates could volunteer to help run your space and provide tips to students. Teachers could help use the garden for lesson activities that align with science standards.
Your research on this topic is apparent as you read several blog posts on gardening as a makerspace. I think this concept would be a unique experience for students to share what they have learned. They could discuss the unique needs of various plants and produce for optimal growth as well as planting items that align with seasonal growth. Students could provide feedback to one another on what they found to be effective gardening techniques. You even touched upon the positive effects of sunlight, vit D., mood, and gardening as exercise. Now I want to create a garden!
Wow! Just wow! If we were giving prizes for blog posts, you need a blue ribbon! I have never seen a garden suggested for a makerspace, but what a perfect fit. In one of the articles from this week (Makerspace Playbook Edition) one of the passages stuck with me. The story was about engineers at the Jet Propulsion Lab and how the best and most creative engineers were the ones that played and problem-solved with their hands as kids. This garden will make kids do this! It will amaze the kids too; I know this from experience. As a science teacher, I had my classes grow mustard seeds in clean yogurt cups as an experiment on overcrowding a population. For me it was an easy way to get a lot of organisms into a small space, and they sprout quickly. You would not believe the excitement on the first day green shoots appeared. Kids had never see that! And these were middle school kids. This garden will be a great experience for so many kids. Finally, I love that it is outside and that your library patrons will reap the benefits of a beautiful view. --Anna Musselman
This is AMAZING! Like you, I have a large wall of windows that go straight to a courtyard. I can think of so many different learning opportunities for students that involve plants. The students could learn about the parts of plants, different types of plants, growing vegetables, healthy fruits and vegetables, insects on plants, and life cycles of those animals. The students could learn about recipes that use the plants in the garden. The students can measure how much the plants have grown. And most importantly, the students can ACTIVELY learn through their own experiences in the garden. This idea earns bonus points for the ability to go outside (being "trapped" in a library all day and not getting fresh air can get a little old) and for the natural social distancing that can occur in a garden. I want to start a garden in the spring. I am going to approach my principal about getting it started between Thanksgiving and Winter Break. I feel confident there are a few grants that I could apply for to help offset the costs too. I cannot wait to read more about this fantastic idea! Melissa Bryan
Hi Stacey, I love the idea of incorporating a garden as a maker space that eases the stress of COVID 19. You could also allow the kids to design the garden. There are a number of online websites for designing a garden. I think one of the sites is Better Homes and Gardens. Also, you could collaborate with the sixth grade teachers to help with the garden. Perhaps they could plants seeds inside to transplant later. I wish you much success with the garden. The students will enjoy the garden and you may be inspiring future gardeners.
Thanks for your ideas! There are so many curriculum connections to a school garden. We also have a Gateway to Technology class that can plan the layout with their design software.
I just love the idea of a garden as a makerspace. I love the way you brainstormed and considered your surroundings and the makeup of your space to determine the best way to incorporate the outdoors as a makerspace. I think that gardening is so refreshing and therapeutic. We all need to get our hands dirty! I love the idea of the kids planting a seed, plant, or flower and watching it grow. It’s the same way we insert our teachings into them and watch how they grow from August to May. The children are sure to be engaged and learn so much about the earth. By the way, are those fake snakes in the picture?
I love your analogy to gardening and watching our students grow! I hope those are fake snakes in the cactus garden. My students would never go back in the garden again, and I wouldn't blame them at all.
This is a neat idea. My school library actually has an outside space connected to it, so I could totally do this! Whenever you begin a new garden for the year (or whenever it needs to be revamped), you could also have students design what the garden should look like architecturally according to sun/exposure conditions, availability of space for certain plants, etc.
This is just fantastic! What a great outside-the-box makerspace concept. When I was taking 706 with Copeland I studied library gardens for an assignment on Universal Design and got a ton of neat ideas for gardens. One school library made a "pizza garden" to teach both food origins and cooking (they planted tomatoes, oregano, peppers, etc.). Another great idea is a "sensory garden" which is often associated with differently-abled kids because it focuses equally on all five senses being engaged. I also found out about ways to make gardens accessible, such as raised planting beds for wheelchair access. There are even tons of resources out there for indoor gardening for libraries that don't have an appropriate outdoor space. And the programming ideas that could be coupled with a garden.....! I could go on and on. Thanks SO much for sharing this idea of a garden as a makerspace. I love it!
This is a FANTASTIC idea! I had not even considered looking into options for makerspaces that would get students working on something outside. What a great way to continue giving them creative opportunities in the middle of these crazy conditions! Thank you so much for sharing. I am adding this idea to my toolbox for sure!
What a FANTASTIC idea!! My children's elementary school has a garden, which is connected to both the art classroom and the library. I love your proposal to think of it as an extension of the makerspace! Just FYI, the librarian at my children's elementary school, who is my mentor, doesn't have space for a makerspace either so she has two small sets of wheeled drawers that she uses. She just wheels them out when kids want to make. It works pretty well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion! I am working on cleaning out some spaces to see what I can use for my makerspace. Wheeled carts will help a lot with storage and management.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! I'm a big fan of gardens, and I 100% agree that kids would really benefit from digging in the dirt. Honestly, if I could design a school, half or maybe 1/3 of the day would be spent outside gardening, farming, hiking, etc. I've thought about a garden for our public library as well, since my local public library sits on a large plot of land. I don't know if they would consider a garden, but it is certainly possible. I wonder what types of funding would be available to help create a school library garden? Thank you for sharing this idea -- I had never thought of a garden as a markerspace!
ReplyDeleteMy mother-in-law got grants to start a school garden. She is my go to for all things garden related. I can get you her contact info if you want it.
DeleteHi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteYour idea of an outdoor garden makerspace is wonderful! I love gardens although I do not have a green thumb. This maker area solves your space limitations and can work in today's pandemic environment. You made a strong connection between the garden and how it can provide the agency or ownership concept. Kids can actively participate in a hands-on activity and apply their knowledge of gardening and the environment while creating something of their own. The growth of the garden will be a reflection of their work. In addition it will take continual effort from students. They will become invested in it and overtime will see the benefits from their commitment. It will also as you addressed in your blog, help to teach kids a life skill. I found it interesting how your maker idea also involves community effort. You will be engaging the students not only with one another but with community members as well. Local gardening advocates could volunteer to help run your space and provide tips to students. Teachers could help use the garden for lesson activities that align with science standards.
Your research on this topic is apparent as you read several blog posts on gardening as a makerspace. I think this concept would be a unique experience for students to share what they have learned. They could discuss the unique needs of various plants and produce for optimal growth as well as planting items that align with seasonal growth. Students could provide feedback to one another on what they found to be effective gardening techniques. You even touched upon the positive effects of sunlight, vit D., mood, and gardening as exercise. Now I want to create a garden!
Kelly
Thanks for your kind and thoughtful words! There are so many curricular connections for a school garden.
DeleteWow! Just wow! If we were giving prizes for blog posts, you need a blue ribbon! I have never seen a garden suggested for a makerspace, but what a perfect fit. In one of the articles from this week (Makerspace Playbook Edition) one of the passages stuck with me. The story was about engineers at the Jet Propulsion Lab and how the best and most creative engineers were the ones that played and problem-solved with their hands as kids. This garden will make kids do this! It will amaze the kids too; I know this from experience. As a science teacher, I had my classes grow mustard seeds in clean yogurt cups as an experiment on overcrowding a population. For me it was an easy way to get a lot of organisms into a small space, and they sprout quickly. You would not believe the excitement on the first day green shoots appeared. Kids had never see that! And these were middle school kids. This garden will be a great experience for so many kids. Finally, I love that it is outside and that your library patrons will reap the benefits of a beautiful view.
ReplyDelete--Anna Musselman
Problem solving is a skill that all students need!
DeleteThis is AMAZING! Like you, I have a large wall of windows that go straight to a courtyard. I can think of so many different learning opportunities for students that involve plants. The students could learn about the parts of plants, different types of plants, growing vegetables, healthy fruits and vegetables, insects on plants, and life cycles of those animals. The students could learn about recipes that use the plants in the garden. The students can measure how much the plants have grown. And most importantly, the students can ACTIVELY learn through their own experiences in the garden. This idea earns bonus points for the ability to go outside (being "trapped" in a library all day and not getting fresh air can get a little old) and for the natural social distancing that can occur in a garden.
ReplyDeleteI want to start a garden in the spring. I am going to approach my principal about getting it started between Thanksgiving and Winter Break. I feel confident there are a few grants that I could apply for to help offset the costs too.
I cannot wait to read more about this fantastic idea!
Melissa Bryan
Good luck with your garden!
DeleteHi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of incorporating a garden as a maker space that eases the stress of COVID 19. You could also allow the kids to design the garden. There are a number of online websites for designing a garden. I think one of the sites is Better Homes and Gardens. Also, you could collaborate with the sixth grade teachers to help with the garden. Perhaps they could plants seeds inside to transplant later. I wish you much success with the garden. The students will enjoy the garden and you may be inspiring future gardeners.
The previous comment was from Kathy Freeman
DeleteThanks for your ideas! There are so many curriculum connections to a school garden. We also have a Gateway to Technology class that can plan the layout with their design software.
DeleteHi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI just love the idea of a garden as a makerspace. I love the way you brainstormed and considered your surroundings and the makeup of your space to determine the best way to incorporate the outdoors as a makerspace. I think that gardening is so refreshing and therapeutic. We all need to get our hands dirty! I love the idea of the kids planting a seed, plant, or flower and watching it grow. It’s the same way we insert our teachings into them and watch how they grow from August to May. The children are sure to be engaged and learn so much about the earth. By the way, are those fake snakes in the picture?
Submitted by Pam Thomas
I love your analogy to gardening and watching our students grow! I hope those are fake snakes in the cactus garden. My students would never go back in the garden again, and I wouldn't blame them at all.
DeleteThis is a neat idea. My school library actually has an outside space connected to it, so I could totally do this! Whenever you begin a new garden for the year (or whenever it needs to be revamped), you could also have students design what the garden should look like architecturally according to sun/exposure conditions, availability of space for certain plants, etc.
ReplyDeleteLucy Gardner
This is just fantastic! What a great outside-the-box makerspace concept. When I was taking 706 with Copeland I studied library gardens for an assignment on Universal Design and got a ton of neat ideas for gardens. One school library made a "pizza garden" to teach both food origins and cooking (they planted tomatoes, oregano, peppers, etc.). Another great idea is a "sensory garden" which is often associated with differently-abled kids because it focuses equally on all five senses being engaged. I also found out about ways to make gardens accessible, such as raised planting beds for wheelchair access. There are even tons of resources out there for indoor gardening for libraries that don't have an appropriate outdoor space. And the programming ideas that could be coupled with a garden.....! I could go on and on. Thanks SO much for sharing this idea of a garden as a makerspace. I love it!
ReplyDeleteHi Stacey!
ReplyDeleteThis is a FANTASTIC idea! I had not even considered looking into options for makerspaces that would get students working on something outside. What a great way to continue giving them creative opportunities in the middle of these crazy conditions! Thank you so much for sharing. I am adding this idea to my toolbox for sure!
Kristen Taylor