Intrinsic Motivation and Engagement as “Active Ingredients” in Garden-Based Education: Examining Models and Measures Derived From Self-Determination Theory

Abstract

Building on self-determination theory, this study presents a model of intrinsic motivation and engagement as “active ingredients” in garden-based education. The model was used to create reliable and valid measures of key constructs, and to guide the empirical exploration of motivational processes in garden-based learning. Teacher- and student-reports of garden engagement, administered to 310 middle school students, demonstrated multidimensional structures, good measurement properties, convergent validity, and the expected correlations with self-perceptions in the garden, garden learning, achievement, and engagement in science and school. Exploratory path analyses, calculated using multiple regression, provided initial support for the self-determination model of motivation: students’ perceived autonomy, competence, and intrinsic motivation uniquely predicted their engagement in the garden, which in turn, predicted learning in the gardens and achievement in school.

Keywords:

• engagement
• garden-based education
• intrinsic motivation
• middle school
• school gardens
• sustainability education

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully appreciate and acknowledge the contributions of the Garden Educators and volunteers at the LGLab, and the students, families, and teachers at Lane, especially the science teachers who participated directly in the LGLab.

Notes

1. The Learning-Gardens Educational Assessment Group (or LEAG) is an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students from the Department of Psychology and the Graduate School of Education at Portland State University and the leadership of Lane Middle School of Portland Public Schools organized around a garden-based education program, the Learning Gardens Laboratory (LGLab). LEAG faculty: Ellen Skinner, Thomas Kindermann, Dae Yeop Kim, Dilafruz Williams (co-founder of the Learning Gardens Laboratory), Pramod Parajuli (co-founder), Karl Logan (Principal, Lane Middle School), Terri Sing (Asst. Principal), Heather Burns (Coordinator of the LGLab), and Weston Miller. LEAG students: Lorraine Escribano, Una Chi, Jennifer Pitzer, Amy Lacey, Shawn Mehess, Justin Vollet, Price Johnson, Heather Brule, Shannon Stone, Hyuny Clark-Shim, and Jennifer Wood.