Effects of a School Gardening Program on Third Grade Students' Science Achievement
Researcher: Cindy Klemmer, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University
Purpose: The purpose of this research is to determine how the use of a school gardening program to teach required curriculum elements affects third grade students' science achievement, 2) if the addition of teacher training and a school gardening curriculum guide enhances students' resulting science achievement, and 3) if there are differences in student science achievement based on gender and ethnicity differences in students. It is hypothesized that the use of school gardening programs to teach required curriculum elements will increase students' science achievement scores, and that the addition of teacher training programs and the provision of school gardening curriculum guides will better prepare teachers to use school gardens effectively, thus enhancing school The following specific research questions will be addressed: 1) What is the effect on science achievement of third grade students who participate in a school garden program addressing science curriculum elements versus those who do not participate? 2) What additional effect do teacher training programs and/or school garden curriculum guides have on third grade science achievement when using a school garden program? 3) Does the use of school gardening to teach required science curriculum elements to third grade students result in different science achievement for students based on gender? 4) Does the use of school gardening to teach required science curriculum elements to third grade students result in different science achievement for students based on ethnicity? 5) Are there interaction effects among the treatment conditions in 1 and 2 above, and student gender and ethnicity?
Testing Procedure: Four third grade classes in four different public schools in the San Antonio Independent School District will comprise the sample. San Antonio was selected for this study because a school gardening program already exists in Bexar County (where San Antonio is located), which is administered by the Bexar County Agricultural Extension Service Master Gardener Program. Using classes with existing school garden programs for the sample will help ensure a representative assessment of the garden program, rather than the start-up effects of a new program.
Instrumentation: No test instrument currently exists for assessing student achievement of the TEKS science curriculum elements. A TEKS test instrument for science will be developed in conjunction with the Dana Center at the University of Texas, where the TEKS for science were developed. Because the test will be formed directly from the TEKS objectives which it will be used to measure, the content validity should be high. To verify this, science specialists from the Texas A&M Department of Education and Curriculum Instruction will review the test during and after development. The new TEKS science test will be pilot tested on two third grade classes in the College Station ISD. Pilot test scores will be compared with their TAAS (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills) science scores to determine the concurrent validity of the TEKS science test. Reliability of the TEKS science test will be determined using Cronbach's alpha.
Procedure: Students will be pre-tested for science achievement in October of the academic year using the TEKS science test developed by the researcher. This will establish a baseline score of students' science achievement with which to compare their year-end science achievement scores. Following pre-testing, the four classes at each school will be randomly assigned to the following treatment groups: 1) classes using school gardening, with the teacher attending a training session and receiving the curriculum guide; 2) classes using school gardening, with the teacher attending a training session but not receiving the curriculum guide; 3) classes using school gardening, with the teacher not attending a training session nor receiving a curriculum guide (control group using school gardening); and 4) classes not using school gardening (control group without school gardening). Teachers in treatment groups 1 and 2 will attend teacher training at the Bexar County Agricultural Extension Center in late October, following pre-testing and treatment assignment. They will receive copies of the school gardening science curriculum at the training. Teachers in each of the four groups will then conduct science classes throughout the school year according to their treatment group. In early June, students in all of the treatment groups will be post-tested using the TEKS science test to determine science achievement. To maintain student confidentiality, each youth will write their name on a separate sheet attached to each test listing a pre-encoded number. The teacher will keep these encoded number sheets, and will match student post-tests with the correct pre-tests. The researcher will not have access to student names, but will be able to correlate each students' pre- and post-test scores using the encoded numbers. Required IRB forms will be filed with Texas A&M University.
Questions About the Study: Please contact the researcher, Cindy Klemmer, at (409)845-4255 with any questions concerning this study. Research summary courtesy of Cindy Klemmer
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