Garden with Insight helps students understand the garden as a system. It also provides an example of how scientists model complex systems. Nationwide, science education is moving towards this type of learner-directed exploration of systems. USDA models Garden with Insight uses models of weather, soil, and plant growth based on research by the USDA Agricultural Research Service. It includes information on over 1000 climates and over 700 soil types in the United States.
Users can also design their own plants, soils, and climates.
Three levels The Garden with Insight microworld has three levels. The first level is a concrete representation of the garden in the familiar terms of garden tools , three-dimensional plants, and soil surfaces. The tools look and act similar to their real-world counterparts. Students can use their prior knowledge of gardening to succeed in growing plants at this level. Raising plants can be made more or less difficult by changing various simulation options such as automatic fertilizing or ignoring plant water stress .