Abstract:

Gardens and their pedagogical, psychological, but more recently therapeutic benefits, are numerous and today they are the subject of researches of many sciences, from pedagogy, psychology, architecture and design, religion, sociology, art to environmental and other interdisciplinary sciences. In the field of pedagogy and the process of education in schools in general, their significance is even more pronounced. Modern pedagogies emphasize the pedagogical and didactic functions of school gardens, and are especially important in encouraging environmental education, i.e. Education for Sustainable Development in all educational institutions. Today's school gardens offer many opportunities to connect pupils with nature. Through the construction of various inquiries - based practical activities for children, school gardens are very important places for children to experience nature, but also places to study, collaborate, learn about nature, environment and society. The aim of this preliminary research was to examine the practice of teachers in the use of school gardens in the teaching of natural and social sciences. The tasks were the construction of a measuring instrument, to determine the frequency of use in teaching, forms of teaching, content and teachers’ attitudes about the functions and use of school gardens in their practice in primary schools. Also, the task was to determine how the use of gardens can be explained by existing forms of teaching, and by the attitudes of teachers about their functions and usefulness. The research was conducted on a sample of primary school teachers (N = 100) in 10 schools in several counties and in two countries, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The constructed measuring instrument resulted in scales that contained good measuring characteristics. The obtained results indicate that teaching is carried out rarely to occasionally in school gardens, and most often unplanned and spontaneously in accordance with the weather conditions. Ecological and natural science contents are most often realized. The highest mean values were obtained on the assessment of the characteristics by which school gardens encourage environmental awareness and enable "first-hand" experiences and discovery. The highest mean values obtained on the views on its usefulness in teaching indicate the insufficiency of materials for work in the garden, insufficient support for teachers and lack of financial resources for its maintenance. Multi-regression analysis indicated that forms of teaching, attitudes about the use of school gardens, as well as attitudes of teachers about their functions are positive predictors of the frequency of its use. Ultimately, the results indicate that school gardens, despite attitudes about their positive characteristics, are not sufficiently used in teaching and indicate the necessary need for greater financial allocations and greater support from parents and the community in their more significant use in teaching. Teachers are in an open question described several positive experiences in the use of gardens, but also expressed the shortcomings which confirmed the results of research.

Keywords:

Attitudes, connectedness to nature, school gardens, pupils, teachers.