Science Learning from the School Garden through Participatory Action Research in Nepal

Authors

Kamal Prasad Acharya, Tribhuvan UniversityFollow
Chitra Bahadur Budhathoki, Tribhuvan University
Milan Acharya, Tribhuvan UniversityFollow

Abstract

Nepal's NORHED/Rupantaran project designed and developed participatory action research through school gardening. This study explored the ways for the community schools, science teachers and basic level (grade five to eight) students to foster a sense of agency in the school science curriculum through life-based experiential learning. Qualitative research design on thematic and verbatim methods are used to collect and analyze the data in this study. The findings show that school gardening activities are helpful and productive for science teaching and learning. The evidence from participatory action research experiences in actual school settings would provide new insights for policymakers to transform the school science curriculum. Further, the study findings show collaborative knowledge production through school gardening in a contextual environment, often neglected in community school science teaching and learning. The implications of the research findings could contribute to policy-level discussions about science teachers' professional development.

Keywords

contextual learning, participatory action research, school garden

Author Bio(s)

Kamal Prasad Acharya is a lecturer of science education, teaching at the Department of Science and Environment Education, Central Department of Education, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal. He teaches science pedagogy and research methodology to the graduate and post-graduate level students and involving science education research projects in Nepal and abroad. He is the author of science education national and international peer-reviewed research journals in the field of the science curriculum, meaningful engagement of students, science teacher professional development, and participatory action research. He has published several research articles in the international peer-reviewed journals. He did Ph.D. on the topic "Activity-based Science Learning through School Gardening: A Participatory Action Research in Nepal" as a fellow of NORHED/Rupantaran project under the Graduate School of Education, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. His area of expertise are school gardening, inquiry-based learning and participatory action research. Please direct correspondence to kamalacharya@tucded.edu.np.

Dr. Chitra Bahadur Budhathoki is a professor of health education, teaching at the Department of Health Education, Central Department of Education, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal. He is the expert of health education and its related field. He is the author of health education national and international peer-reviewed research journals.

Mrs. Milan Acharya is a teaching assistant at the Health, Physical and Population Department, Sanothimi Campus, Tribhuvan University. She published numerous peer-reviewed articles in national and international journals.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank teachers and students who engaged meaningfully in school gardening activities as part of science learning through the study. This paper has been prepared with the support of NORHED/Rupantaran project entitled 'Innovations in Teaching and Learning through Contextualized Approaches to Increase the Quality, Relevance and Sustainability of Education in 'Nepal' which has been jointly implemented in Nepal by Tribhuvan University (TU), Kathmandu University (KU) and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). The authors are grateful to the project coordinators for their valuable support.

Publication Date

6-17-2022

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2022.4561

Recommended APA Citation

Acharya, K. P., Budhathoki, C. B., & Acharya, M. (2022). Science Learning from the School Garden through Participatory Action Research in Nepal. The Qualitative Report, 27(6), 1623-1634. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2022.4561

ORCID ID

Kamal Prasad Acharya https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5469-0989 Chitra Bahadur Budhathoki https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9636-0614 Milan Acharya https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0686-9431