Engaging children in learning ecologicalscience: Two botanic garden educators’ pedagogical practices

Abstract

In England, botanic gardens are popular settings for school trips where students can attend botanic garden educators’ lessons. These educators contribute greatly to the visitors’ learning. However, at present, there is little research on these educators’ pedagogical practices, especially with respect to how they engage and support children in learning ecological science. This chapter explores two botanic garden educators’ teaching practices by analyzing their interactions with visiting elementary students. The research findings imply that (1) learning in botanic gardens is experiential and knowledge focused and (2) the botanic garden educators would benefit from professional development to update their pedagogical content knowledge, so as to keep pace with the latest education innovations.