Researches find that school gardening provides opportunities for children to connect with natural environments, such as plants, animals and insects. This kind of experiences plays a critical role in shaping children’s life-long attitudes, values, and patterns of behavior toward natural environments, including appreciation of the natural world; opportunities to experience the closeness to nature; as well as respect for other creatures and their living habits. This can also develop their interest in and appreciation of the world around them, in order to develop their positive attitude and behavior related to environmental protection, recycling, reusing and living habits; as well as support children’s emotional and physical health and well-being. This study was a single case study of a Hong Kong school garden. A pre-school was selected purposively, which enabled the collection of qualitative data from children to understand their experiences in connection with the gardening environment. Multiple data collection methods included unstructured, participant and non-participant observations, as well as semi-structured individual and group interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the findings. The findings highlight a number of areas that children got the senses of loving and protecting the natural environment. Copyright © 2017 第八屆兩岸四地可持續發展教育論壇.

School gardens have become popular in schools globally in the last decade as a response to concerns over societal problems and learning. School gardening provides direct experiences to children and benefits them by offering open environment for them to learn from the nature, transforming the way children perceive learning. This study is based on the theoretical framework in Experiential Learning. Dewey believes that a school garden could provide connection between children and their daily environment. He posits that all learning takes place within social context, and that experiential learning should allow knowledge to be organized in real-life experiences within that social environment, which is the first step to helping children to become lifelong learners. This study adopted an inductive approach and used qualitative case study methods in a purposive Hong Kong kindergarten. The research questions were how the gardening workshops implemented in the school gardens and what the children learned when they took part in the gardening workshops. Unstructured and impressionistic observations, semi-structured individual and group interviews, documentation and physical artifact were used to collect information. This study found that the children had less than expected experiential learning during the process of gardening workshops. Less choice, less free time for children to explore and interact with the garden environment and people, more waiting time, lots of structured and controlled interaction through adults’ regulations, rules and guidance, as well as influence of adults’ different strategies on children’s performance were the reasons found.

The current policy regarding the meals provided by pre-primary schools in Hong Kong is merely a set of guidelines that, although not practical or even properly implemented, provide suggestions for healthy meals that are beneficial to children. As a result, children have developed poor eating habits that have resulted in an increase in childhood obesity, among other health problems. Some of these health issues even continue through primary school. This study points out why the enforcement of the existing policy failed and the reasons that it was and is not properly applied by early childhood educators. It also addresses whether these educators act as role-models for healthy eating habits or take part in designing and providing healthy meals for their students. School life is a critical opportunity for young children to acquire and practice healthy lifestyles. School settings provide valuable resources for influencing health-related habits through policy measures, education, and food provision. In this study, a self-administered questionnaire survey was used to assess 58 early childhood educators. These educators were also Hong Kong Early Childhood Education students, with one group studying in the first year of a two-year higher diploma (n 28) and the other group studying in the second year of a three-year Bachelor Degree (n 30) in-service training programme. The survey studied a variety of elements, such as the related knowledge of the teachers, school nutrition policies, and the educational background of those who oversee nutrition-related services. The researcher found that the school meals did not meet nutritional standards and the early childhood educators’ perceptions of what constitutes a healthy diet was also found to be weak. Most of the respondents agreed that training the people who plan the school meal menus and cook the meals is not enough. This study provides an overview of the perceptions of early childhood educators about health and their understanding