Biology Lessons Thrive in Garden

Students at Saint John the Baptist Catholic School don't have to go very far for a biology field trip. The school has a new garden in its backyard that gives students hands-on lessons in plant biology, gardening and bee pollination patterns, the Gazette reports.

Planted by students and parent volunteers last Earth Day, the organic garden contains lavender plants, marigolds and a lot of bees, which makes it a "living laboratory," according to garden coordinator and parent volunteer Mary Phillips Quinn.

This garden represents another example of schools using hands-on, beyond-the-book methods to teach kids about academic concepts such as math and science.

But the lessons learned don't stay in the garden. In one second-grade computer class, students use their observations about the garden to create digital stories. Students record their stories and show photos and hand-drawn pictures of the garden and insects. Plans for a monarch butterfly station, Bible-themed plant garden and commemorative stone are in the works for the next year.

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