Abstract:

The paper presented here is entitled "Our sustainable school garden, a Storyline approach during the Covid19 pandemic”. It is about a Storyline that was designed for preschool children 4-6 years old that live in a heavy industrial city, called Aspropyrgos, which is located near Athens, Greece. The Storyline is a combination of fantasy (fairytales) and the education for sustainability. It was planned to be applied in class for the school year 2020-2021.

The main aim of the Storyline was children to enrich their knowledge about gardening and more specific about companion planting. Furthermore it aimed children to cultivate the values of sustainability in education such as cooperation, compassion and respect. The global goals for Sustainable Development of Good health and well being were promoted as well. Issues of humanitarian and social nature were raised like healthy Mediterranean diet, utilization of useless materials, repatriation and finding new ways of cultivation in combination of the old ones.

The children followed the story of the fairy Levantine and her friends, who used to live in a school garden that was neglected. With the return of Levantine in the garden they found what was common among all and tried to find solutions. They used their imagination and learned about the sustainability of the school garden and enhanced their resilience in order to face dilemmas and critical situations that are related with their school and their industrial city, Aspropyrgos.

Students had to build a model of the garden and learn about its value. They had to create the characters of the story – the fairies, the bugs and the birds, identify with them and experience their daily lives. Collecting the data of the critical situation, processing them and judge them in a way that is experiential, and leads to decisions on how to deal with this situation. Discussions in groups, show respect to others and also in nature make them responsible citizens.

The Storyline plan had to change because in Greece like other countries we had to use distance learning in periods during the whole year. So the first plan, to create a 3D model needed a change. Furthermore we used the webex platform for our lessons and also the educational platform e-me. We also create digital games and a website to promote our program. Gardening and planting had to be done when we were in class, and then to keep students in touch with their outdoor work.

Keywords:

Storyline approach, Sustainability, school garden, distance learning, digital games, distance learning platforms.