Ottawa survey results

The following table is the average result taken across two grade six classes at Ottawa Primary, totalling sixty eight students. These questions were asked to the students.

Do you feel like the garden project has helped you with your Are you enjoying working with your group? Have you been using your log book? Are you enjoying working in the garden? Are you finding the project interesting? Do you feel a personal (not just work) connection with your

3.78 3.78 3.68 3.68 3.65 3.61 3.55 3.55 3.55 3.54 3.51

Have you spoken to other people at school about your work?

Do you feel better after working in the garden? Is the garden work helping your other school work? Have you spoken to family members about your work? Do you feel proud of the garden and your work in it? Do you think you will continue gardening at home after the If your answer to the above question is no, is there anybody you Did you know anything about growing food before? Have you given seeds to anyone? Have you started a garden at home? Are you noticing plants/animals/insects in your environment If so, is it growing well? Have you spoken to adults in your community about your work?

3.3 3.17
3.03 2.62 2.58 2.56 2.41 2.38

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

1 = No, 4 = Yes

Each of the above questions could be answered with a No (1), Not Really (2), Mostly (3), and Yes (4). The 3.78 result (Do you feel like the garden project has helped with your natural science work?) demonstrates that the majority of students felt that the garden project was helping them with understanding natural science. With the last question, result 2.38 (Have you spoken to adults in your community about your work?), over half the students can be seen to have spoken to members of the broader community, outside of family members. Importantly, over half of the students, seen in the 2.58 result (Have you started a garden at home?), have started gardens at home and those gardens are going well. Alongside the handing out of seeds, talking to family and community members, and the desire to continue growing food it is safe to infer that there is dissemination of knowledge beyond the boundaries of the school and into the community. We see that the majority of students find the project interesting and relevant, but pending the academic results we cannot state its influence on marks. However, the students are working and taking knowledge into the community with them, which is arguably more important than purely academic results.