About Us

Welcome to our teaching and learning garden site!

Thinking about teaching, research and learning in and community use of the garden involves an ongoing series of conversations between the entire community we are building around it.

Before you explore the site, get to know our work and its relevance in the community.

What are the gardens?

The gardens are places located in and around the Education Building on the University of Alberta North campus. They contain plant species mostly native to Alberta, making them sustainable and eco-friendly. The gardens exist as a learning space where faculty, students, and pre-service teachers can come together to learn in a natural and welcoming environment.

Where are they located?

There are three garden locations. The first is known as the West Balcony Planter, located on the 3rd floor of Education North, on the large balcony on the West side of the building (across from EdTech Services). This planter is less sheltered from the elements, and hosts many plant species that prefer moist conditions. This planter was filled in Spring 2012. Picnic tables are provided here for visitors to enjoy the outdoors, with the sun being strongest in the afternoon.

The next is the East Balcony Planter, located on the 3rd floor of Education North on the smaller balcony. This balcony can only be accessed through EdTech Services, and it hosts multiple picnic benches as well. This balcony is much more sheltered from the elements, so the plants found here prefer dry soil conditions. The sun is strongest here in the morning and early afternoon, and is a great place to enjoy your lunch or morning coffee! The planter here was also filled in Spring 2012.

The third location is the Naturalization Site, located just outside the windows and doors behind the Education Cafeteria on the main floor of Education North (on the East side of the building, in the courtyard). This site is older than the balcony planters, but contains many of the same indigenous plant species. Initially cared for and reclaimed by Sustain SU, this garden is a collaboration joining our projects together.

When did this all happen?

In 2011, the University of Alberta’s Sustainability Enhancement Fund provided support for the refurbishment of the patios in the North tower of the Education Complex. As a first step to creating the physical gardens, students in the Winter 2012 session of Curriculum and Teaching for Secondary School Science Minors were invited to help develop and plant the new gardens on the third floor balconies of the North tower of the Education Building. Student involvement supported their class requirements and provided them with experience in a hands-on teaching project.

In the summer of 2012, our project met and collaborated with Sustain SU (a student led service through the Students' Union at the University of Alberta). Sustain SU possessed a Naturalization site on the ground floor just outside of the Education Cafeteria, used for the purpose of growing native plant species and creating a sustainable hands-on learning environment. In the summer of 2013, our project added a plethora of edible indigenous plant species to this site.

Why were they started?

Once the patios had been refurbished and deemed fit for human use, the project was proposed as a means of providing an indigenous space to use alongside pre-service teacher education. Part of the initiative is to also develop Aboriginal gardens to support Aboriginal curriculum initiatives in the Faculty of Education. Aboriginal initiatives exist in the Alberta curriculum across grade levels and subjects, yet it is something that has not been focused on or looked at in pre-service teacher education. Class members of the Science Minors class of Winter 2012 were invited to take part in a research project related to the garden, as well as in-class activities related to the planning and implementation of the balcony planters. We hope that these connections will support the Faculty as it comes to understand how to effectively support pre-service teachers in learning what engaging with First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives in the classroom might look like.

The gardens will also contribute to sustainable practices on campus. This will be accomplished by:

1. providing a space for indigenous plants which may have been pushed out of their natural habitat by invasive/introduced species from other places

2. (re)connecting students in the Faculty to life and learning outside the classroom

3. creating community both within the Faculty and between Faculties, as the spaces will be open to others for research and events

Who is involved?

The University of Alberta is involved. The University's Sustainability enhancement fund created the opportunity for the refurbishment of the balconies and the commencement of the garden projects. Sustain SU has also put so much work previous to this project regarding the Naturalization Site gardens, and remain invested in the area.

The Faculty of Education is involved. Faculty members are encouraged to support the project, use it in their teaching and understandings of education, and they can enjoy the beautiful locations so close to their workplace. Faculty members were also very involved in planting and the official opening ceremony for the planter gardens. Various departments within the Faculty of Education also participate in garden-related activities, such as planting and opening ceremonies and vermicomposting.

Other faculties are involved. Other faculties have visited our site, and many of the staff and students who have worked on the project also belong to faculties other than Education. Anyone is able to visit the site, making visits from other staff and students welcomed.

Students are involved. Many students have had the chance to work on aspects of building and planting the gardens, visit the gardens, create resources based on the gardens, have guest speakers from the project visit their classes, and try out activity resources made for using the gardens in teaching and learning. These students may or may not be from the Faculty of Education, and include undergraduate as well as graduate students.

What is planned for the future?

... Answer coming soon!