There must be more than a few reasons for school and classroom gardens to grow in popularity worldwide in the last few years. Gardening has proven to be an excellent comprehensive hands-on learning tool especially for the teaching of integrated topics in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) for primary and secondary schools. Furthermore, edible garden-based learning activities (both indoor and outdoor) in seeding, growing, harvesting, and cooking self-grown vegetables promote motivation, creativity, environmental awareness, healthy food habits, and the development of character and values such as teamwork, resilience, and responsibility.

• The teachers will learn what are the STEM topics and areas that can be designed to be taught at upper primary and lower secondary schools using the activities in a real indoor or outdoor edible garden


• The teachers will learn how to teach the STEM topics using the inquiry-based learning technique with hands-on experiments in an edible garden


• The teachers will learn how to promote socio-emotional and psycho-motor skills, values and character in their students while the students are actively engaged in learning in the garden


• The teachers will learn how to conduct formative assessment for the learning of students in an edible garden-based STEM education system.

• Seeding and propagating vegetables in the garden


• Growing and flowering plants


• Maturing and fruiting of plants


• Harvesting and storing vegetables

• Science: plant biology (plant parts, pollination, propagation, photosynthesis, respiration etc.); chemistry (chemical compounds in fertilizers, water, osmosis, diffusion, starch, food chemistry, acidity of soil,  etc.); physics (simple machines in the garden: wheelbarrow, temperature, humidity, solar energy, stability of structures and materials), rainfall, wind, and insects.  


• Technology: tools used in the garden (mechanical (shovel); electronics (mass balance, temperature and pH sensors); camera, video camera, solar panels.  


• Engineering: design and construction of structures and tools in a garden (water-wheel, rain-water collector, water-pipes, wind-mill.


• Mathematics: geometry, trigonometry, area, volume, rate of change, graph, triangles and circles, minimum and maximum values.

• To generate a testable observation and hypothesis related to a topic in STEM in a garden.


• To conduct hands-on experimental investigation to test the hypothesis in the garden


• To analyze the experimental data


• To discuss the results and find a conclusion


• To evaluate and communicate the results, and extend to further investigation if needed.  

*MOE Participants include: MOE Participants & Direct Hires Staff from independent schools, Specialised Independent and Specialised Schools