URN_NBN_SI_doc-SYGZKZ49

400 Šolska kronika • 3 • 2015 Summary School gardens in American public schools – past and future Leopoldina Plut Pregelj Gardens used for educational purposes already existed in the USA as early as the 17 th century. School gardens, however, were only introduced into public schools in the 1890s at a somewhat later date than in Europe and Canada. Their introduction and development was influenced by the convergence of several factors: the examples set in Europe (pedagogical clas- sics, school policies and practices) and above all the conditions in America at the time, such as progressivism, which also influenced the characteristics of these gardens. The first school garden to be installed in a public school was founded in 1891 by Henry L. Clapp, the head- teacher of the George Putnam School in Roxbury, Massachusetts, after returning home from a one-year tour to study the school gardens in Germany. Over the next 30 years, school gardens were to become widespread throughout America's cities and rural areas. Appearing in various shapes and sizes, they differed in name and purpose. Their numbers peaked during WWI (the United States School Garden Army) and WWII (the Victory Gardens) in which time the patriotic aims of the latter overshadowed the primary goal of food production which had been set for the former. After WWII, school gardens disappeared almost entirely and were maintained by only a few individual schools and school systems. Among these was the Cleveland public school system which maintained its school garden programme continuously from 1904 to 1977. Under the influence of environmental protection movements for sustainable development, the demand for school gardens saw a revival in the 1970s. The trend, however, failed to have any significant influence on the public schools. This situation has changed though over the past two decades and school gardens are now being systematically introduced as part of numerous projects for the landscaping of outdoor school grounds and classrooms without walls, whose aim is to pro- vide children with direct contact with nature. Schools now have gardens for the achievement of various goals enhancing the healthy physical, cognitive, social and emotional development of children, helping them see themselves as a part of their broader natural environment.