How indoor hydroponic gardening can provide an interactive learning experience for students
Line Veenstra is a high school science teacher in Vancouver, BC. She began her teaching career 13 years ago, and for the past 5 years has been teaching Environmental Science at the Vancouver Alternate Secondary School as part of the Total Education program for Grades 10-12. This specialized program provides broader support for students, recognizing their individual learning styles and life experiences.
“I love it here,” says Line. “With the smaller class sizes, I get a closer connection to the students.”
The school acquired a Terrace Pro Indoor Hydroponic Garden as part of a pilot project with local nonprofits, Growing Chefs and Fresh Roots Urban Society. The two organizations run an innovative school meal program called LunchLAB that serves accessible and nourishing lunches prepared by students under the guidance of a chef-in-residence. The students helped operate the Terrace Pro and incorporate all the fresh produce that they grew into their meals. Learn more about that experience here.
When Line heard that there was an opportunity to bring the school’s Terrace Pro into her classroom for a term, she leapt at the chance.
“There was an easy connection to my course, with the main topic being ecosystems. Growing food is the basis of all ecosystems,” Line says. “From my exposure to the Terrace Pro in the school last term, I knew it was easy to use – it was something I could manage without too much commitment, and at the same time I could succeed with it.”
Line likes using the Terrace Pro as a conversation starter with her students. They interact with it every week, adding water and nutrients, planting, harvesting and discussing various topics depending on the class curriculum.
“In the course, we talk about plants being a fundamental part of all our ecosystems. What do plants need? Sunlight, water, nutrients – and it’s so easy to see in the indoor garden,” says Line.
“Often if you ask students, what do plants need to survive? Even in Grades 11 and 12, they’re not always clear on that! Many will say “dirt.” Well, what is it from the dirt? Oh, it’s actually the nutrients.”
In the course on nutrients, Line and her students talk about the kinds of nutrients needed for plants to grow, how the plants get the nutrients, how they utilize the nutrients and how our bodies make use of the nutrients when we consume the produce. Actively growing plants in the classroom allows for an interactive learning experience that has engaged the students more effectively than traditional teaching methods alone.
Line’s students will often ask questions while they tend to their indoor garden. What happens if you add weights to microgreens when they’re germinating? Does moving the plants closer to the lights make them grow faster? Do the plants grow differently on different shelves? Line hopes to engage the students further by having them come up with experiments that they can then test out as part of their classwork.
“It gets the students out of their seats. They like to check on it in the morning and see how the plants they started are doing,” says Line.
Comparing the Terrace Pro with the school’s outdoor garden, Line remarks about how much easier it has been to grow plants in the indoor garden. “It requires so little of me to be successful,” she says. “There are a lot of barriers with the outdoor garden – so many more unknowns. When things aren’t growing, I don’t know why, whereas in the indoor garden system everything always grows. It’s so satisfying to have the immediate feeling of success, for me and for the students as well.”
The produce grown by Line and her students have continued to support the popular LunchLAB program at the school which has been running for the past 5 years. “LunchLAB has created more community at the school by providing an opportunity to gather every day,” says Line. “The school used to provide packaged lunches which were not very appetizing and almost encouraged students to just pick up the food and leave. Now, with the LunchLAB program, they have their plate and they fill it with fresh and delicious food made by their fellow students. It feels like you’re invited to stay and connect.”
As part of the LunchLAB program, Hope Rapp, Edible Education Lead for Growing Chefs, has worked with both student chefs and students interested in gardening over the past year. “Watching students use the greens they grew in the indoor garden system in their very own school lunches was clearly impactful. Even for students who didn’t grow the food, there was a sense of pride and connection to the garden!”
Visit our education page to learn more about how you can create an indoor garden in your school. Contact us for information on funding a Terrace Pro system, including available grant opportunities.
