The Value of Sensory Gardens in the Early Childhood Development Phase

Abstract: Research shows that sensory gardens benefit the development of imagination and creativity, increased curiosity about the world, and motivation to learn. Sensory gardens improve memory and confidence, reduce stress, and enhance interpersonal relationships among children. In a sense, any garden can be referred to as a sensory garden as users perceive it in all their senses – sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing. At the same time, the eye plays a key role, suppressing the perception of other stimuli that make the observed image more attractive or destroy it.
In the background of the above benefits, this paper reports on a longitudinal community engagement project to equip ECD practitioners with the skill to use sensory gardens to stimulate learners' access to, among others, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, thus improving early learning. Various researchers support the importance of introducing STEM subjects in the ECD phase. The project purposefully selected a collaboration of students from different faculties at the University of Pretoria. These are students registered in modules with built-in service learning and expected, as a degree requirement, to go to communities and experience the mutual benefits as part of their qualification. The project aims to further purposefully follow learners whose practitioners participated in the sensory project training to investigate the intended STEM outcomes benefits.

Narrative: The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) rates South African learners as under-performing in Mathematics and Science subjects. Despite the study conducted on Grades 4 - 9 learners, investigations tracked back the challenge to the skills capacity of Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners to equip learners with essential skills to process the subject concepts and apply early intervention for those in need. Furthermore, science and mathematics are crucial subjects that prepare learners for the world of work, problem-solving and critical thinking skills necessary for the 21st century.
The Mamelodi Campus of the University of Pretoria is situated in a township east of Pretoria. It is one of the seven campuses of the University of Pretoria. Students of the Community-based Project Module of the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology and occupational therapy students of the Siyathemba Clinic, together with landscape architects, created a sensory garden at the University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi Campus in 2021.
One of the niche areas of the University of Pretoria, Mamelodi campus is educational pathways. The campus identified four educational pathways from early childhood development centres, primary schools, high schools, and university education networks. The projects' collaborative effort responds to the university's vision. Researchers in the literature support the early introduction of STEM education in the ECD phase (Hapgood et al., 2020; Hassan et al., 2019; McClure et al., 2017; Tippett et al., 2017). With the support of the SA-HEN grant, the Head of Community Engagement Research of the University of Pretoria, Mamelodi Campus, invited 30 practitioners of ECD centres to attend a five-week STEM Sensory Garden Project in 2022. The aim was to empower the ECD practitioners to incorporate aspects of sensory gardens at their ECD centres. Although the project identified many challenges, the feedback from the ECD practitioners was very positive and showed learning eagerness.
In 2022, the Head of Community Engagement Research and a USA colleague visited the schools to determine if the practitioners incorporated sensory gardens as an inspirational teaching method in their centres. The findings revealed a need for further training. In 2023, the third-year students enrolled in ECD courses at the Faculty of Education, Department of Early Childhood Education, presented training sessions to the 2022 cohort of ECD practitioners. During the first training, the ECD practitioners indicated uninformedness about how to start or incorporate sensory garden aspects into teaching. After the students did the second training, the practitioners felt more equipped to integrate various concepts of using a sensory garden in their teaching practice. The students enjoyed sharing the theoretical-based ideas taught in class with the practitioners and, as the follow-up, visited the centres to ascertain how practitioners incorporated the learned skills into teaching. The sensory garden at the University of Pretoria Mamelodi campus became an ideal environment for other Faculties to use students to get involved in community projects, and campus staff took ownership of the garden.
Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development Vygotsky (1978) and Kolb's (1984) experiential learning theory underpinned the project. In the South African context, with increasing numbers of learners experiencing learning difficulties, Vygosky's theory informed practitioners of learners' development levels and the importance of aligning pedagogic and content presentation. Kolbs' experiential learning theory directed the project and gleaned practitioners' level of understanding of childhood development principles and training needs. The project managers also used the theory's reflection ideologies to inform the training program offered to the practitioners. The project took an interpretivist paradigm stance to interpret the responses from the semi-structured interviews conducted with ECD practitioners and observations of learners' participation. Among the findings, ECD practitioners exhibited poor conceptualization of sensory garden benefits and the lack of ECD training qualifications, resources, and funding to equip the ECD centres due to the socio-economic backgrounds of children's families. The project outcomes were an organized training program offered by the Early Childhood Development Bachelor of Education students and informed by the ECD practitioners' reflections.

References
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