(Un)expected Learning Outcomes of Virtual School Garden Exchanges in the Field of Education for Sustainable Development

Johanna Lochner, Marco Rieckmann and Marcel Robischon
Additional contact information
Johanna Lochner: Agricultural Ecology, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute, Humboldt-Universtität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany
Marco Rieckmann: Department of Education, Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, University of Vechta, 49377 Vechta, Germany
Marcel Robischon: Agricultural Ecology, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute, Humboldt-Universtität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-25

Abstract: Global solidarity is paramount in times of global crises and essential in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Virtual School Garden Exchanges (VSGEs) link local gardening with global thinking. In VSGEs, elementary and secondary school students in different parts of the world exchange information about their school gardens and related topics via digital media. Educators’ perspectives and the learning outcomes they observed in the participants of the VSGEs were the focus of this study, as there has been controversy about whether VSGEs are suitable for implementing ESD and whether VSGEs result in the learning outcomes that the educators expect them to. We conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with VSGE educators and analyzed them in an abductive and qualitative manner. The results showed substantial overlap with both the expected learning outcomes and the aims of ESD. Nevertheless, the data revealed different ways in which learners who engaged with their international peers were influenced by stereotypes and norms. On the one hand, VSGEs can lead to Othering, which is not congruent with either ESD or the expected learning outcomes. On the other hand, it can inspire Transformative Learning processes, which contribute to the aims of ESD. Therefore, depending on a complex interplay of various factors, there is potential for ESD in VSGEs, but VSGEs are not guaranteed to be a good ESD practice.

Keywords: school garden; virtual exchange; education for sustainable development; learning outcomes; othering; transformative learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5758/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/10/5758/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:10:p:5758-:d:558882

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().