Edible Schoolyard Project Introduction
Aly Witter, Katie Shawcross, Mark Taylor
3 Research Questions and Hypotheses
Does being involved with a garden change a college student’s view of the food they consume?
Hypothesis: Being involved with a garden encourages college students to question their own food. It also makes them curious about gardening practices and helps them to realize how much effort really goes into the food they eat.
Does being involved in a produce/edible garden change what students eat?
Relevance: This research question is relevant to our topic because our entire mission is to provide a produce garden on campus so that students may learn about healthy eating as well as endorse it as a source of healthy and organic food rather than rely totally on meal cards and the cafeteria.
Hypothesis: While many students at Appalachian State express that they feel that they should be eating healthier, organic, locally grown foods, the fact is that they do not have time. Many of the students at Appalachian have loaded schedules and in their time outside of class many turn to finishing homework assignments. It would not be in their interest to eat out of a garden when they have meal plans and food already prepared waiting for them to buy. It takes time to prepare food that is picked and while some may turn to it as a source for a snack, students most likely cannot sustain themselves on only food from a garden. Therefore, the vast majority of students would not change what they eat if they were involved in a community garden.
Do college students have an interest in gardening and will it increase their appreciation for nature/ outdoors?
Hypothesis: A majority of college students will be interested in gardening if it is convenient for them during a normal day. I think working with a garden on a daily basis will increase their appreciation for nature and being outdoors.
Description of How Project Relates to Course
Our group project is focusing on involving college students in gardening and seeing how if at all it would affect what they eat. We will incorporate things we have learned in class and teach fellow students the concepts and benefits of gardening and eating locally grown organic food. Kingsolver repeatedly mentions in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle the gratification she gets by growing and consuming food that she raised herself. By teaching students what we have learned in class we will educate them about where their food comes from. Our hopes are for these students to use what we will teach them and incorporate it into their diets.
Specific Description of Method
The first thing we are going to deal with in our project is talking with all the people that need to be, or want to be, involved with this project. We need to discuss and plan the project with the Residence Director of the dorm we are building at and someone from the landscaping department so that we have permission to grow a garden on campus. We might also need to talk with some people from the University Administration to confirm that we have permission for the project. The next things to do will be to get people involved in learning about Edible Schoolyard and get some idea of how we are going to fund the project. This could be done by making a presentation to the RAs of the dorm and having them talk to their halls about it. Also, as for funding, we could apply for one of the grants that helped start the original Edible Schoolyard at the LLC, through the Parent’s Association. We could also approach local businesses with requests for donations of materials. There might even be some assistance from the members of the Edible Schoolyard class at the LLC by lending us tools or cuttings of plants in the current Edible Schoolyard. Once we get the materials we will help plan the garden and start planting things that can grow root systems over the winter and grow up in the spring. Finally, we will set up some sort of sign up system or other method of ensuring that people in the dorm can and will stay involved with the garden into the spring.
Responsibilities of Group Members
All members are in charge of researching and putting together individually-assigned tasks. All group members involved in acquiring funding and gardening.
Katie: Responsible for direct contact with people outside the group. In charge of setting up meetings with these people and updating the rest of the group.
Mark: Responsible for taking notes during meetings with Joe and others related to group. Should then type up notes and email to other group members and Joe.
Aly: Responsible for updating Joe about group progress by emails. In charge of putting together all group member’s information and posting to blog.
Expectations of Group Members
· Make sure to meet at expected pre-set times with your group members and Dr Joe Gonzalez.
· Make sure you are on time to all meetings and expect to stay the entire duration of the meeting.
· Finish all work assigned to you and turn in on expected deadlines. It is vital to do so that you do not penalize your group members for your irresponsibility.
· Provide your input at meetings with group and Joe. Remember that this is a group project and everyone’s opinion counts.
· Give Joe honest input and opinions while listening to what Joe has to offer to better the project.
· Provide everyone and their opinions and thoughts with the respect that they deserve.
· Be an active listener. Ask questions if you do not understand something or if you have an idea that you feel could be relevant to the project.
· Have fun and get involved with your group and the project they are doing. You will be working with these people for a long period of time. Get to know them.
Expectations of Community Partner
As a group, our expectations of our Community Partner are as follows. We expect our Community Partner to be available to meet with us at least every other week, and on scheduled meeting times. We expect honest feedback and suggestions, as well as cooperation and shared responsibility. Clear explanations of duties and confirmation in writing, as well as guidance in and out of the community will also be expected as part of the work/volunteer environment. We hold these expectations because we believe that having them will increase our chances of success with Community Partner and with the community.
Strengths
Our group’s biggest strength is the diversity of the people and personality types. Katie is ENFJ and is responsive and responsible. She is also a NF which means she is good at increasing fun, harmony and innovation within the group as well as communicating creatively with others. Katie also owns a nice camera which will enable our group to document some of the work we are doing in the new Edible Schoolyard. Aly is an ISTJ so she is practical, orderly and dependable. She is good at taking responsibility and getting work done through concentration and thoroughness. She is also the only ST in the group which gives her more responsibility to manage schedules, solve problems quickly, and use statistics to monitor progress. Finally, Mark is an ESFP. This means that he enjoys everything and makes things more fun for others as well as being good in situations where there is a need for practical abilities with people or things. Mark is the only SF in our group. This means he will be better at using tried and true methods, applying experience to practical jobs, sharing work well, and reviewing plans and materials from other group member to see what works best. Mark is also a laidback and practical person who can help the group with the more common-sense side of things.
Weaknesses
Individually, all of our group members have their flaws. Mark has ADD which can sometimes cause him to have trouble focusing on a task. He also often lacks initiative and would rather be told what to do in situations rather than inventing and acting on his own ideas. Finally, Mark is less detail-oriented than the others in the group which could cause some problems in situations where details are more important than just grasping the general idea. Aly is willing to take on too much responsibility especially when group members are slacking. She is also generally unwilling to confront issues with other group members if they occur. Katie is good at seeing problems with things but doesn’t always act on trying to fix these problems. As a group, we all share a weakness for having bad time-management skills and we don’t always plan well, especially as a group. This involves the fact that we are all involved with many different activities and classes outside of this project which makes it more difficult for us to plan together. We are also all procrastinators to different degrees and we all acknowledge that we have the bad habit of putting things off for later until it gets down to crunch time. Finally, our group tends to be less aggressive when dealing with other people, especially people that we need information from.
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