Pedagogical Transformation Through School Garden as a Living Laboratory in Public Schools in Nepal

Introduction

Participatory action research in a school setting is supportive of all stakeholders/ research participants of the collaborating institution. The research recognizes that school is an important site for social and individual change efforts and that PAR is central to the struggle. The study was conducted to promote engaged science teaching and learning at the basic level i.e., five to eight graders, considering the impact on students' performance, knowledge, attitude, and skills. As a researcher in this study, we worked in partnership with teachers, students, parents, and school management committee (SMC) and PAR committee members. This study focused on the construction of a school garden and its use in hands-on activities linked with the science curricula. Introducing a school garden as a living laboratory for students' engagement provides opportunities for many countries worldwide facing challenges in providing adequate instructional materials for learning science (Afrina, Abbas, & Susanto, 2021; Chambless et al., 2012; Evans & Karvonen, 2010). Garden-based practice includes collaborative behaviors such as sharing, collaboration, argumentation, and using the school garden. School science education in Nepal aims to promote garden-based learning to transfer science pedagogy for engaged learning. Science learning is associated with students' learning performance, attitude, and knowledge. Community participation is a must to uplift schools in Nepal (Khanal, 2013). Along the same line, research reveals that critical reflection on teachers' beliefs and practices is needed to improve school education (Pant et al., 2023).