Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

This course is designed to enhance the knowledge base of our degree-seeking students (who are required to take 6 – 10 credits of elective credit) while also providing an accessible, interesting, and relevant course to students who are seeking to meet their professional development requirements and/or who might have limited experience in the college setting.

Upon successful completion, students should be able to:

·        Identify elements of quality garden and nature experiences for young children.

·        Articulate the role of gardening and nature experiences in the acquisition of skills and concepts across all developmental domains.

·        Design, implement and evaluate gardening and nature experiences for children of varying ages (2 years to school age) and abilities.

·        Identify solutions to common barriers and issues that arise when implementing gardening and nature experiences with children.

·        Describe the ways in which gardens and explorations of nature with children can be a component of cultural validation and building relationships with families.

Students will…

1. Attend and actively participate in class and small group activities.
2. Complete written observations and assignments.

1. Benefits of and barriers to implementing gardening and nature experiences in programs for children?
2. Design and implementation of quality gardening and nature experiences.
3. Facilitating learning and development across domains with gardening and experiences.
4. Use of gardening and nature experiences to develop children’s life-long enjoyment of and care for the natural world.
5. Involving families and communities in gardening and nature projects with children.
6. Community resources.
7. Addressing common barriers and issues that arise in gardening and nature experiences.