Nature deficit disorder

On Sunday our home church met at our home. The theme was belief and values, carrying on from a discussion on belief and action. One of the ideas that came out of the session was that values or attitudes are predicated by experience. Many of my students lack experience of nature. This makes it difficult for them to relate to wider environmental issues. This has been called http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/people-in-nature/200901/no-more-nature-deficit-disorder Perhaps more gardening and field trips would help.
Today I started the process of getting the school accredited to assess using the Horticulture ITO unit standards. They involve more practical work and less writing which my students find difficult. Hopefully we can start using these next year.

I had my horticulture class tidy up the area, and they did really well. Perhaps there is a lesson here it teaching in the context of a 'job to be done' and getting the students motivated to do this. A long term goal might be to grow vegetables; a short term goal might be to win a competition.

I would like to have a vigorous gardening club, growing vegetables for the school and community.

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