Environmental Education in Botanic Gardens: Exploring Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Project Green Reach

The evaluation of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Summer Program, Junior Botanist Summer Adventures, was conducted by an external evaluator as a graduate thesis. The goals of the evaluation were to examine the long-term effects of gardening programs on urban youth, document the program as a model for informal science learning and plant-based education, and to add to the qualitative research literature and understanding of children’s gardening and public horticulture. The evaluator used a triangulation of methods for collecting data, which included the use of observations, document collection and analysis, and informal and formal interviews of staff and program alumni. The evaluator recommended that future research be conducted to learn more about the meaning that the PGR program has for participants. The evaluation also identified the need to maintain better alumni records, conduct focus groups at the BBG site, and conduct a longitudinal study following participants into adulthood to further ascertain long-term effects. It was also recommended that the other component of the PGR program, the school-year program, be studied.