Permaculture in Action: Urban Farming as Continual Science Learning

Abstract

This chapter tells a story of the Continual Science Learning (CSL, also known as informal science education, ISE) that both participants and educators experienced in two consecutive years of an intensive hands-on urban Permaculture In Action (PIA) program. The program took place in a mid-size southern Appalachian city in the U.S. We make a distinction between urban agriculture and Permaculture. The latter holistically combines food production, energy systems, the built environment, and social/economic considerations. We show how this program was structured using Permaculture principles to facilitate Transformative Permaculture Learning (TSL). We present evidence as to how we followed those principles to meet most of those goals. We describe how the curriculum cycle enacted the six strands described in Learning in Informal Environments (Bell P, Lewenstein B, Shouse AW, Feder MA, Learning science in informal environments, people, places, and pursuits. National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2009), and how the Permaculture curriculum categories met major science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning objectives. We describe how the evidence altered our teaching. We finish by discussing the broader land access, economic and societal dynamics that affect Permaculture educators’ ability to create the kind of change needed to continue healthy human ecosystems on our planet. We also identify specific challenges and continuing research questions to explore.