Project Recap

This pilot study examined how urban gardeners draw on community spaces and social networks to support science learning, contributing to a broader understanding of adult learning across free-choice environments.

Project Description

Free-choice and interest-driven activities are an important source of science learning for adults. Free-Choice Science Learning Among Urban Gardeners examined how adults living in the same geographic area — including parts of Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, and Oakland, California — and sharing an interest in plant care and gardening draw on community spaces and networks to support their learning.

A key contribution of this pilot and feasibility study is the diverse sample of hobbyist gardeners it engaged, allowing for insights across a range of experience and backgrounds. The research documents how adults use community resources and social networks to support plant and garden learning, identifying participation behaviors that were nearly universally across the sample as well as others that were more specialized and varied across groups.

Findings shows that most hobbyists think about or engage with their interests throughout the day and find incidental ways to participate, such as while shopping at the grocery store, walking through their neighborhood, or visiting a local park.These patterns highlight how science learning unfolds across multiple settings and moments. Studying learning in a single location provides only a partial picture; understanding how adults learn requires attention to the broader networks of places, people, and experiences that shape participation.

Overall, this work contributes evidence-based insights into how community resources support adult science learning and which audiences those resources are reaching.