Growing Plants and Scientists: Fostering Positive Attitudes toward Science among All Participants in an Afterschool Hydroponics Program

Abstract

This study examines an out-of-school time program targeting elementary-aged youth from populations that are typically underrepresented in science fields (primarily African-American, Hispanic, and/or English Language Learner participants). The program aimed to foster positive attitudes toward science among youth by engaging them in growing plants hydroponically (in water without soil). Participants' attitudes toward science, including anxiety, desire, and self-concept, were examined through pre-post survey data (n = 234) over the course of an afterschool program at three separate sites. Data showed that participants' anxiety decreased and desire increased for both male and female participants over the program. Self-concept increased for female participants at all three sites but did not change significantly for male participants. Participants' first language (English or Spanish) was not a factor in attitude outcomes. The primarily positive outcomes suggest that hydroponics can be a useful educational platform for engaging participants in gardenbased programming year round, particularly for settings that do not have the physical space or climate to conduct outdoor gardening. Similarities in positive attitude outcomes at the three sites despite differences in format, implementation, and instructor background experience suggest that the program is resilient to variation in context. Understanding which aspects of the program facilitated positive outcomes in the varied contexts could be useful for the design of future programs.

Luminous Science: Teachers Designing For and Developing Transdisciplinary Thinking and Learning

“…We briefly describe one garden-lantern prototype created by the first author in order to illustrate the kind of learning experience we thought was possible for teachers and their students. After researching various hydroponic options, we created an ebb and flow (Patchen, Zhang, & Barnett, 2017) hydroponic garden (Figure 3) as a testbed for investigative questions like how different plants grow, taste, and change at a cellular level under different light, water, or nutrient conditions. We programmed sensors to capture fine-grained environmental conditions (e.g., humidity, temperature, water level, light, carbon dioxide), collected physical data, and created a timelapse video of the garden's life by showing growth, infection (by mold), death, and then desiccation.…”

Science education for and as resiliency through indoor agriculture

“…In the field of science education, there is limited research on ways in which indoor agriculture can support science learning in informal and formal contexts. Patchen et al (2017) designed an afterschool hydroponics program for elementary-aged, marginalized youth and found that participation reduced students' anxiety about science, increased their desire to do science, and fostered improved self-conception in science. They assert that hydroponics specifically brings technology and engineering into relation with science, effectively creating an integrated STEM educational experience (Patchen et al, 2017).…”

“…For example, the group asked questions in trying to solve authentic problems as they arose in the Pod. Harnessing the engineering aspects of indoor agriculture (Patchen et al, 2017), students defined problems, such as how to grow plants in a confined space and how to set up projects in hydroponics and companion planting. They informally used models in designing the layout of the pod and in experiments to maximize growing potential in a small space.…”

“…We believe that these and other factors motivate a focus on growing plants in indoor spaces within science education. For these reasons, we join Patchen et al (2017) in encouraging science educators to embrace indoor agriculture as an authentic and promising STEM context.…”

Sustainability, Spread, and Shift: Developing a Professional Learning Program for Out-of-School Educators With Scale-Up in Mind

“…Historically, DBIR has been used to refine educational programs implemented in traditional school settings. At the time of this writing, the authors could identify only two studies to date that have used DBIR to make enhancements to informal learning programs (Patchen et al, 2017;Subramaniam et al, 2021).…”