Elementary Students Gain Skills Through Collaborative Gardening

One group of elementary school students is partnering with high schoolers to sow the seeds of knowledge.

Through hands-on experience and collaboration, Jennifer Williams’s Hodgenville Elementary School students are discovering the joys of nurturing life from seed to harvest, while also gaining invaluable lessons in patience, responsibility, and environmental stewardship.

“Students will be visiting the greenhouse at the LCHS and learning about different gardening systems. They will be coming up with questions and submit them to the highschool students and raise a plant with their help,” Williams said. “[They’ll be] communicating with others besides their peers.”

This project is part of the Profile of a Learner initiative, the district-wide plan to help bring real-world applications of subjects to students. Learner Profiles are heavily supported through Project-Based Learning (PBL). PBL is a research-backed way to give students hands-on experience regarding subjects. The goal of each PBL activity is to immerse students in what they’re learning while also improving skills they’ll need beyond the classroom.

Williams noted that this gardening project touches on the Collaborative Communicator, Resilient Problem Solver, and Engaged Citizen goals of the Learner Profile.

“This [project] will help them have better communication skills with others besides their peers and they will be better at resiliently solving problems,” she said.

Williams is right, gardening has been shown to have incredible benefits for students. It's a fantastic way to get hands-on with nature and learn about plants, ecosystems, and how things grow.

Gardening isn’t just a great way to boost the students’ time outdoors. It provides a host of mental benefits. Gardening offers relaxation to people of all ages, and students get to learn about botany in a space that might be more calming to them than a typical classroom.

Research indicates that gardening can actually improve focus and attention span in developing minds. It also helps them learn about patience and persistence, which are critical for any student.