Social Representations of school gardens: Toward the construction of educative projects from the critical pedagogy

Abstract

School gardens have promoted the teaching of curricular, scientific, cultural and health contents, along with food
production and the development of ecological and collaborative values. By integrating and systematizing information
obtained through group conversations, semi structured interviews and participant observation, this research analyzed
the Social Representations of school gardens of six teachers and five principals of seven elementary schools, as well
as three people of a governmental instance of education in Tabasco, Mexico. Results show two representations: one
that emphasizes school gardens as a place for teaching, and the second one conceives them more as a space to
produce food. It can be concluded that personal experiences, social interactions, information access, and the specific
sociocultural contexts of Tabasco have configured these representations. Thus, to put in a dialogue these
representations from critical pedagogy, would allow to make agreements between government agencies who design
projects and the people who implement them.