Abstract:

Introduction:
Garden-Based Learning is an active learning approach that has been shown to favour meaningful and competent learning in teachers in initial training (Eugenio-Gozalbo et al., 2019). Prior scientific evidence has suggested that garden use could have a positive impact on psychological well-being (e.g., quality of life, stress, fatigue, depression, or anxiety) and cognitive function (Soga et al., 2017). However, the influence of garden use on the affective dimensions of subjective well-being has received little attention. These dimensions include positive affect and negative affect, which refer to the momentary experience of positive and negative emotions, respectively (Diener, 1984). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyse the impact of garden use for educational purposes on positive affect and negative affect in young adults.

Methodology:
A total of 46 students enrolled in the Bachelor's Degrees in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education (20.58±1.60 years; 78.3% girls) participated in the Hort4Health study. All were part of both groups for 30 minutes: the control group and the experimental group. On the one hand, in the control group participants were quietly sitting listening to a lecture. On the other hand, in the experimental group participants carried out in the garden activities related to soil analysis, study of plant life cycles and study of biodiversity (contents included in the official curriculum of the early childhood and primary education stages). Affective dimensions were assessed through the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) (Watson et al., 1988) before and after each protocol. Differences between groups were analysed using a 2 group x 2 time (pre and post) repeated measures ANOVA.

Results:
Participants showed an improvement in positive affect after the practical session in the garden (37.78 vs. 41.54; p<0.001), whereas there was not a significant change in the control group (35.26 vs. 35.41; p>0.05). Regarding the negative affect, training teachers showed lower values after the garden use (19.41 vs. 13.54; p<0.001) and after the lecture (16.59 vs. 14.46; p<0.001), with the largest decrease in the experimental group.

Conclusions:
These findings suggested that the use of the garden for educational purposes could be a good strategy to address the official contents of the educational curriculum while improving the students’ emotional well-being. Moreover, the garden is revealed as an alternative educational space to the traditional school facilities, where theory and practice come together. Policy makers and education professionals could take into consideration this evidence to promote students’ well-being by incorporating Garden-Based Learning in educational backgrounds.

References:
[1] Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542-575.
[2] Eugenio-Gozalbo, M., Ramos-Truchero, G. y Vallés Rapp, C. (2019). Huertos universitarios: dimensiones de aprendizaje percibidas por los futuros maestros. Enseñanza de las Ciencias, 37(3), 111–127. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/ensciencias.2657
[3] Soga, M., Gaston, K. J. y Yamaura, Y. (2017). Gardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysis. Preventive Medicine Reports, 5, 92–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PMEDR.2016.11.007
[4] Watson, D. et al. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063-1070.

Keywords:

Garden-Based Learning, well-being, positive affect, negative affect, training teachers.