Social Emotional Learning in the Container Farm
The hydroponic farm as a platform for SEL.
Hydroponic container farms are great for growing vegetables. If you’re familiar with Freight Farms, that’s probably not a surprise to you. But beyond fresh produce, school farms offer a space for growth for humans, too. We’ve already covered the benefits of hydroponic farming for mental health; today, we’re going to focus on how container farms offer the perfect platform for social emotional learning. First, let’s get on the same page.
What is social emotional learning?
If you don’t work in education, you may not have heard of it. But for teachers these days, social emotional learning (commonly known as SEL) is a hot topic. Instead of focusing purely on achievement, curriculum, and grades — as was surely the experience of many Gen Xers and Millennials — teachers today are taking a more holistic approach to education by way of SEL.
Social emotional learning includes five core competencies:
Self-Awareness: recognition of strengths and needs; development of a growth mindset
Self-Management: emotional regulation; goal-setting
Social Awareness: empathy; awareness of diverse perspectives
Responsible Decision-Making: learning how to make decisions for positive growth and change
Relationship Skills: communication; cooperation; conflict resolution
These essential skills are not just important for an individual to thrive in our society. They also have the ability to empower youth and ultimately positively impact mental wellness, relationships, goal setting and achievement, soft skills, and academic performance. In other words, SEL is like kale: a broadly applicable powerhouse for individual success.
So how can you teach social emotional learning in a farm?
SEL is not something kids learn in a textbook. It has more to do with learning environment and relationships — the presence of caring adults and peers in a safe, stable environment in which empathy, self-awareness, and inclusivity are prioritized. Read on to hear what some students have to say about the ways that they have grown in skills central to SEL through their school farm.
“I’ve had a lot of impactful time to just talk. When you’re working in the farm...it gives you a lot of free time when you’re in between [farm] clients and when you’re just doing the grunt work of getting the farm ready and operational where you just get to talk. So I’ve had a lot of nice conversations with [my teacher], as well as other students, just on the general topics of life. You know, ‘What do you want to do in life?’ and ‘How do you want to get there?’ — that sort of thing.”
— Isaac Dressel, Mountain Vista High School student
Time in the container farm to have unstructured conversation with caring adults and fellow students encourages kids’ relationship skills and social awareness. Beyond that, it gives them the chance to reflect, self-manage by setting short- and long-term goals, and develop that important growth mindset.
“I’m really glad I was able to have this experience — it really helped me get into high school and understand how to navigate it better. I think I would not be quite where I am right now without this class.”
— Kimberly Whitmore, Mountain Vista High School student
Learning in the Freight Farm helps students adjust to a new school experience so they are able to grow and succeed in the future — increasing self awareness in the process.
“Working with people in a new environment and learning new things and kind of finding your role in a new environment where you can work together as a group.”
— Maya Jones, Mountain Vista High School student
“I’ve had a lot of interesting experiences working with a vast variety of new people learning how to operate the different systems inside the farm.”
— Isaac Dressel, Mountain Vista High School student
Farming alongside peers grows social awareness and relationship skills. Talking while seeding lettuce is a comfortable environment for connection, as students from different backgrounds or social groups can begin to recognize one another’s valuable perspective and appreciate diversity.
“[I’ve learned] problem-solving in general. Like when something doesn’t go well, what can we change and how we can work through challenges and really keep going with what’s working.”
— Maya Jones, Mountain Vista High School student
“Problem-solving in these things is a really, really big deal...that could take you anywhere.”
— Mackenzie Pennington, Environmental Science major at Auburn University
The business and farming decisions that students make while working in the school farm directly relate to decisions made in life, and teach them how to make positive and responsible choices.
“I found it surprising how quickly I was able to get used to talking to customers...I was very scared at the start of having to talk to adults older than me.”
— Kimberly Whitmore, Mountain Vista High School student
“[The teacher] just understands what’s going on and what students go through in school.”
— Cannon Piper, Mountain Vista High School student
Interactions in the farm with teachers, partners (like the school dining services), and customers (who some schools sell to in order to fund their programming) help students to grow their relationship skills and social awareness, in addition to providing a forum for connecting with caring adults who can support them in their personal growth.
Transplanting basil, harvesting radishes, and checking on Swiss chard have the power to be more than menial farm tasks. The fun, hands-on work in the container farm creates a space for youth to open up, for interpersonal and intergenerational conversation, and for that essential social emotional learning to transpire. As Constance Collins says of the youth she works with at a Miami nonprofit, the Freight Farm provides “a safe, holistic, supportive environment for them to heal, reclaim their lives, and build the foundation for a new future.”
Growth — SEL, Seedlings, and Students.
Explore implementing a container farm as your classroom today.