2 Articles on Garden Mosaics website

Garden Mosaics Neighborhood Exploration, Gardener Story, & Action Project in South Africa—Jamila Walida Simon
Researchers worked in Durban, South Africa to adapt Garden Mosaics for community gardens in two different schools. In contrast to the U.S., where community gardens are located in neighborhoods, African community gardens are located on school grounds because they provide security, water and land. The paper focuses on adapting learning activities from U.S. gardens to those in Africa. In the U.S., students begin by learning about their surrounding neighborhood and where fresh food and gathering places are found. However, in South Africa, neighborhood was found to be a western term. The program may be different because of this cultural difference and the lack of access to internet. Next in the U.S. students learn gardeners’ planting practices. This project provides the opportunity to connect with elders and learn about the connections with culture. In South Africa, the children had to be reassured that they were not being disrespectful to their elders by asking questions. Finally in the U.S., students use i.m.science investigations to conduct an Action Project working with gardeners and benefiting the community. In South African schools, the project is similar. The students discuss the collage from the Neighborhood Exploration and the interviews with gardeners. This discuss allows the students to identify issues that need to be addressed in the garden. They analyze what can be done and what materials are needed and carry out the project.

Examining agriculturally-based environmental learning in southern Africa—Marianne Krasny
The poster examines the role of agriculturally-based school-community links in facilitating environmental learning and action in Malawi, Zambia, South African and the U.S. In South Africa, there are Eco-Schools in which the curriculum promotes sustainable environmental management and there are Health Promoting Schools in which food gardens and healthy school environments are used to teach students. In Malawi and Zambia, an organization called Farmers of the Future uses agroforestry in the school curriculum and there is community-based organization to adopt sustainable agriculture and improve social and economic conditions. In the U.S., Garden Mosaics can be equated to these organizations in Africa because it uses community gardens to teach science, multicultural learning, and community action while providing mentoring. Overall, the study found that the three school communities had some roles in common such as being sources of knowledge and skills, providing environmental learning, showing evidence of action and change, sharing knowledge and skills, and promoting incentives for agricultural activities. In addition, the communities’ resources were often limited, there was donor insensitivity, and a culture of dependency. After the study, questions raised were about the connection between environmental understanding and sustainable agriculture practices and ethics. Another question was about the role of school-community links between cultural patterns and sustainable practices.