Best Practices in Garden-Based Education
In a garden we are able to cultivate children’s love of learning, their appreciation of healthy food, and their connection to the natural world. With vision, commitment, and some good hard work, educators and families around the globe are ripping up pavement, sowing seeds, and growing garden classrooms because they believe children need to be engaged by hands-on learning in a context that matters to them. They need to know how delicious fresh healthy food can be; and they need to know, right down in their bones, that they are part of a vast and beautiful web of life.

And so, in schoolyards and community spaces across the country, a movement has been born. As a result, new questions have emerged. Chief among them: how do we best use these gardens to achieve our goals and provide all children with the best possible experiences? In Teaching in Nature's Classroom: Core Principles of Garden-Based Education, Nathan Larson shares a philosophy of teaching in the garden. Rooted in years of experience and supported by research, Larson presents fifteen guiding principles of garden-based education. These principles and best practices are illustrated through engaging stories from the field. The book features vivid paintings by mural artist Becky Redelings and connections to the research literature provided by Alex Wells and Sam Dennis of the University of Wisconsin Environmental Design Lab.