Class 3 (Sept 18) Entrance Slip - What We Have Learned From Campus Teaching and Learning Gardens: The Ubc Orchard Garden and Cultivating Learning Network

I really liked how the paper talks about teaching in a school garden with the garden as a “co-teacher”. Before reading the paper, in terms of teaching physics in a garden, the first thing I thought of was to move the classrooms to the garden and do all the activities that can also be done in the indoor classroom, because that is what my high school teachers were doing. But as I was reading the paper, I realized that instead of making the garden a replication of the existing indoor classrooms, I can acknowledge the garden as a co-teacher and make use of the living world, inviting students to connect with “the world of the outdoors using all their senses” and learn from the garden itself. This way, we can, as written in the paper, “develop alternative educational experiences that counter the human-centric approaches of modernity”. From the paper, I learned that by moving our class to The Orchard Garden, we are making the garden an important part of this program rather than a “decorative add-on”, so we are also in a way contributing to creating and sustaining the learning garden in UBC. 

Applying to teaching physics in high school, I thought of using elements in the garden to demonstrate physics concepts. Some examples that I thought of include using sunlight and a magnifying glass to study refraction, observing rainbows from sprinklers, and setting up for the double slit experiment using water in a clear container and sunlight. 

One of the difficulties I thought of is the documents that might need to be done in order to be able to bring the class outside, as I vaguely remember my high school teacher complaining to us about how many forms she had to fill out to be able to take us on a walk outside. But I think this difficulty could be solved if taking students outside becomes a routine, so that there could potentially be less paperwork required.

I also learned about the Roots on the Roof. Being in UBC for more than 4 years, I had no idea that this space existed, but I am excited to go take a look one day!