2021 Poster – Cultivating Science: Examining the Free-Choice Science Learning Networks of Urban Gardeners

This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting.

Free-choice learning occurs when individuals make choices about what, where, how, and who they participate with in their self-motivated learning activities. This project explores how different people, living in the same geographic region, make plants and gardening a part of their lives. We explore how adult community members choose to participate in their plant and gardening interests, including: the topics and activities that interest them, with whom they participate, where, and which resources they access. This work will provide a clearer understanding of a community’s STEM ecosystem and will build evidence-based understanding about who is being served by which resources in their community. We are also piloting a methodology to use participants’ social networks to collect data from diverse (age, gender, race, socioeconomics) urban gardeners who have often been excluded by more traditional data collection efforts.