Jessica Sobocinski

Using ʻĀina-Based Learning & School Gardens to Promote Social Justice Education in Elementary Grades

In a blog for the Hanahau’oli School Professional Development Center, Jessica Sobocinski, recent graduate of the MEd in Curriculum Studies STEMS² program, discusses the subject of her research: What are the best teaching strategies that use Hawaiʻi-specific food, agriculture, or natural resource management themes and practices to promote social justice education in elementary classrooms? Originally from Portage, Indiana, Sobocinski now lives in Paʻauilo on Hawaiʻi Island. She writes about making the connection early on that food, agriculture, and natural resources could serve as a tool for bringing people together to heal not only the physical body, but the relationships to land and one another. Serving as the garden kumu and FoodCorps service member at Hōnaunau Elementary at 22 years old, she says she began to understand what it means to have a sense of place.

Read the complete blog here.

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