Virtual School Garden Exchange – thinking globally, gardening locally

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of nine different Virtual School Garden Exchange (VSGE) projects. In VSGEs, learners from primary or secondary schools with school gardens exchange virtually on their garden experiences and related topics, using digital media like emails, photos, films, or videoconferences. In this manner, the global perspective of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) can be integrated in the school garden. ESD aims to enable children, young people, and adults to think and act in a sustainable manner. It puts people in a position to make decisions for the future and to estimate how their actions affect future generations or life elsewhere in the world. In this paper, the research procedures and main results of the preliminary study of my PhD research project are presented.