過去幾年間,校園園藝活動在臺灣地區蓬勃發展,但是在臺灣卻很少有研究在探究校園園藝活動對兒童的效益,甚至更少研究在調查影響園藝活動效益之因素。因此本論文主要用兩個研究來探討臺灣校園園藝活動對兒童之效益及其影響因素。 研究一共分為兩個階段,在第一階段的研究中,研究者訪談了43位具有較多園藝活動經驗的國小兒童,並運用一般歸納分析法來分析資料。結果發現兒童能從校園園藝活動中獲得7大項效益,包括「提高生活技能」、「引發愉悅感受」、「促進人際互動和提供植物友伴」、「增長知識」、「增進蔬果嚐試」、「促進身體健康」以及「增加自然接觸」,其中部分研究發現尚未在前人研究中被提出,如園藝活動提供兒童植物友伴。此外,本研究也整理出20項影響園藝活動效益之因素,有8項屬於「植物」類、7項屬於「活動」類、2項為「戶外環境」類以及3項為「其他參與者」類。結果指出在園藝活動中,能引發兒童最多效益的因素為「植物的外觀、香氣和觸感」、「活動親自操作」以及「戶外自然元素」。在第二階段的研究中,研究者根據第一階段之質性研究結果設計「兒童園藝活動效益問卷」,並利用探索性因素分析將原本7項校園園藝活動效益,部分整合成3項效益,分別為「正向感受與嚐試」、「社交與學習」及「自然接觸」。 在研究二中,研究者利用便利抽樣於臺北市、新北市、新竹縣共8間小學進行研究,調查5週的園藝種菜活動對兒童的營養與種植知識之影響,共有339位三年級兒童參與本次研究。結果指出在營養方面,園藝活動有助於提升兒童對蔬菜和水果的喜好、蔬菜的嚐試經驗;在知識方面,園藝活動有助於提升兒童的種植知識。 另外,由兩個研究的結果也發現,男生與女生對種植活動的喜好程度和效益感受程度有差異。大多數兒童喜歡參與種植活動,但女生傾向較男生更喜愛參與種植活動。此外,女生從園藝活動中所獲得之正向感受也較強烈,他們也更會將植物視為家人和朋友。
In the past few years, school gardening programs have become popular in elementary schools in Taiwan. However, only a few studies have explored the benefits of school gardening in Taiwan and even fewer studies have examined which factors influence the benefits derived from these gardening activities. This dissertation takes a closer look by using two studies to explore the benefits of school gardening for children in Taiwan and to identify the factors influencing these benefits. The first study was conducted in two stages. The first stage involved interviewing 43 elementary school students who had extensive experience with gardening and used a general inductive approach to analyze the data. The results identified seven benefits children can derive from school gardening. These benefits include: increasing life skills, producing pleasant feelings, improving relationships and having plants as companions, acquiring new knowledge, experiencing the aroma and flavor of fruits and vegetables, improving health, and increasing connection to nature. Some of these benefits of school gardening have not been mentioned in previous studies and can be considered to be new, such as having plants as companions. Additionally, this study found 20 factors that influence the benefits of school gardening. Of these, eight were about plants, seven about activities, two about outdoor environments, and three about other participants. The factors with the greatest impact have the most number of benefits that influence children and include: “appearance, odor and texture,” “hands-on,” and “outdoor natural elements.” The second stage of the study used the results from the first stage to develop a gardening benefit questionnaire for children and used an exploratory factor analysis to group the seven benefits into three factors including positive emotion and taste, social interaction and knowledge, and connection to nature. The second study used convenience sampling in eight elementary schools located in Taipei City, New Taipei City, and Hsinchu County to investigate the effects of a five-week gardening course on students’ perception of nutrition and gardening knowledge. In total, 339 third-grade students participated in this study. The results showed that gardening activities can increase children’s preference for fruit and vegetables and vegetable exposure, and also that gardening activities can improve children’s gardening knowledge. One finding from both of the studies was that most children like to participate in gardening. The studies also found that there were some differences in preference for gardening and benefits between boys and girls in Taiwan, with girls tending to like gardening activities more than boys, having stronger positive feelings, and being likelier to consider plants as family and friends.