Framing a shot for the outdoor photo booth
Picking fresh buttercups for 'buttercup paint'
Preparing for changing weather
As we met with our Faculty Advisor, Ross Cassie, to discuss our CFE learnings, I felt a sense of gratitude towards all the educators who have come before me to bring outdoor learning into our education system. In my search for the history of outdoor education at UBC, I stumbled across the short-lived Children's Garden, situated by the Scarfe Building, where I've spent most of my education as a student. Incidentally, Dr. Susan Gerofsky, our mentor and advisor, had proposed replacements after its demolition due to seismic upgrades, which happened only a few years after it was built.
A feature article on the Children's Garden in a 1989 issue of Canadian Children, The Journal of the Canadian Association for Young Children (page 55), writes:
"The concept of using elements of nature as a basis for play is not new. However, the creation of a garden designed primarily for the manipulation and exploration of nature by both children and adults affords rare opportunities for learning". With nature all around us, do these opportunities continue to be rare?
So glad you found this article and the traces of the once beautiful Scarfe Children’s Garden, Juli! There are still some parts of it in existence behind Scarfe: blueberry bushes, carvings and paving stones, an old fashioned pump and dry stream bed… That garden was a great inspiration for many current projects , including the Orchard Garden and Roots on the Roof on the Nest building!
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