Edible Schoolyard and A Night in the Global Village

The Edible School Yard is a teaching tool used at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkley, California. It is a garden where the children in that class grow and cook their own food. The was thought up by Alice Walter, who was not happy with the lunch program so in turn she complained to administration. She said that the lunch items were not nutritionally helping the students. By having this garden classroom the children not only grow their vegetables but also cook them as well. This idea is fantastic because it incorporates not only cooking and good life lessons but it includes science as well. Also, by being hands-on the students are more involved and pay better attention.

I think that this is a great tool that many classrooms should have if the climate and the school funds accept it. Not only does it make the students work hard to grow and cook their own food, it makes them appreciate everything more. By growing the foot the students are more inept to try foods that maybe they wouldn’t if someone had just placed it on a plate in front of them. Also, it puts healthy food in their bodies. Lunch items these days really lack in nutritional value, and in turn it lowers the energy level of the students. By replacing those high calorie, low nutrient foods with high energy, high vitamin foods there could be a slow progression in the academics of the school. Overall, I think that the Edible School Yard is a great idea. It not only teaches the students a life lesson but it also teaches them their basic things they learn in school hands on.




A Night in the Global Village was a podcast about teaching students on how many people in the world have to survive. The students were taken to a camp with no electricity or plumbing and they were put into groups. These groups each had one important supply like wood, water, food, ect., and they all had to work together to make their meals and live. It was a great learning experience for the students, because living like that and understanding it is not just done by hearing about it. One has to live like that to really appreciate your life compared to how some people have to live.

Just like the Edible School Yard, I thought that A Night in the Global Village was a great idea as well. In many history and global learning classes we hear all about how lucky we are and how many people suffer daily. I could never imagine living without running water or electricity but the majority of the people in the world live like that daily. By having the students experience that first hand, they will then take a better understanding of everything they learn. Many people are visual learners were as some are auditory learners, but whenever you experience something those memories will never be forgotten and I think that is what learning is all about.