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

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. 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. School gardens are flourishing. In the United States, they number in the tens of thousands, with 4,000 in California alone (California Department of Education, 2010). Goals for school gardens are as unique as the schools themselves, but in general they target four student outcomes: a) science learning and school achievement; b) ecological and environmental awareness and responsible behaviors; such as recycling and composting; d) knowledge about food systems 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 17 and nutrition, and healthy eating, especially consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables; and d) positive youth development (Ratcliffe, Goldberg, Rogers, & Merrigan, 2010). Evidence about the beneficial effects of garden programs comes from qualitative and quantitative research and case studies from multiple disciplines …