Growing Young Minds: Expanding the Use of a Garden and Wetland As an Outdoor Classroom.

In 2011, the University of Arkansas Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences (CSES) Club aided Holt Middle School in establishing a school garden in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  This year, we plan to further develop and facilitate use  as an outdoor classroom by creating QR codes and placing them throughout the garden. The QR codes may be scanned using smartphones and iPads, allowing easy access to information about the garden. Since the school recently purchased iPads, the students and teachers may readily use the codes.  The CSES Club  members  will create and link a page of information to a QR code for individual topics such as composting, rain collection, plant profiles, and wetland functions.  All information will be accessible at Holt Middle School’s garden website.  Our intention is to provide a database of information that teachers can incorporate comfortably into their classrooms.   The garden will serve as an area to inspire and enrich the education of young students in all subject areas. Learning in a more stimulating surrounding will be of great benefit to the students’ education.  The students will be able to take what they learn in the classrooms and apply it to something tangible on their school grounds. Students will be able to  use their knowledge and take action.  This experience will better prepare students in responding to the complexities of the real world.  It is necessary for younger generations to understand their environment and the effects  of their actions because of  the current status of the global environment.  This information will be significant outside the school as well since it will be available on a web site.  The knowledge may be used at home as a way to live more sustainably.  As a result, this project has the potential to impact the surrounding community as a whole.