Kinley, Erin L.2018-02-272018-02-272017http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/23047The primary goals of this research were to 1) determine how public gardens are addressing food systems education, 2) discern what information gardens communicate about challenges facing food systems, and 3) identify barriers to including challenging and underrepresented topics in food systems education at gardens. The research found that although most gardens include aspects of food systems in their programming, how these aspects are interpreted to the general public varies. In other cases, programs that focus solely on food and agriculture topics are not always well integrated with other garden programming to share this knowledge with broader garden audiences. Phone interviews also found that most gardens informally discuss challenges to food systems in their programming, but few directly share information about these topics. Lack of expertise, relevance to mission, and perceived audience interest appear to be the primary barriers to including challenging and underrepresented topics in gardens’ food systems education. Overall, few gardens are using their food-related programming to increase critical food literacy among their visitors. As trusted resources for plant education, public gardens have the infrastructure to become leaders in food systems education, but this research found that gardens will need effective partnerships, creative collaboration, and reimagined interpretation to achieve critical food literacy success.Biological sciencesEducationBotanical gardensCritical food literacyFood systems educationFree choice learningPublic gardensPublic horticultureThesis10253297552017-09-06en