Participation in Intergenerational Food and Agriculture Education Programs Effectively Promotes Place Attachment

Po-Ching Wang; Jing-Wun Huang; De-Chih Lee

doi:10.3390/ijerph20054616

Participation in Intergenerational Food and Agriculture Education Programs Effectively Promotes Place Attachment

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Mar 5;20(5):4616. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20054616.

Authors

Po-Ching Wang¹, Jing-Wun Huang², De-Chih Lee³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Landscape Architecture, National Chiayi University, 300 Syuefu Rd., Chiayi City 600355, Taiwan.
² Zhuqi Elementary School, Chiayi County 621301, Taiwan.
³ Department of Information Management, Da-Yeh University, Changhua City 515006, Taiwan.

Abstract

This study adopted an empirical approach to examine the effectiveness of integrating intergenerational education with food and agricultural education to increase students' affection for their learning environment. The intergenerational food and agricultural education program in this study consisted of various courses promoting educational dialogue between students and their parents and grandparents at home. The bidirectional learning process allowed the three generations to better understand each other's dietary and life experiences and pass on the relevant knowledge and culture. The 51 participants in this quantitative study were rural elementary schoolchildren who were divided into an experimental group and a control group. Place attachment was evaluated through the two sub-dimensions of place identity and place dependence. The results revealed that food and agricultural education implemented as intergenerational education strengthens learners' affective attachment to their school environment.

Keywords: food and agricultural education; intergenerational education; place attachment; place dependence; place identity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Agriculture
Child
Diet
Food*
Humans
Rural Population
Students* / psychology

Grants and funding

This study was partially supported by the 2021 Agriculture Development Fund Program (Rice School) of the Agriculture and Food Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan. Program number: 110-ADF-1.1-AFA-3-S-8.