About 100 of Chicago's 570 schools participate in the Campus Park Program. Members of the Chicago Botanic Garden staff had suggested, as part of the park program, planting gardens on school grounds for use by classroom teachers, Southon told Education World. Most schools didn't have any gardens or greenery before. Representatives from the Botanic Garden help plant and maintain the gardens. Chicago Botanic Garden members develop the gardens in conjunction with leadership teams from the schools.
Teachers attend a series of workshops in such areas as planning and designing gardens.
They also learn to integrate outdoor education into different subject areas. Schools with gardens use curriculum programs such as Life Lab , which includes lesson ideas pertaining to areas such as weather, climate, ecosystems, and food chains, and Grow Lab , which features indoor gardening activities for classes. Melanie Wojtulewicz, the manager of science for the Chicago Public Schools, said helping youngsters get involved with gardening is heartwarming. It's something they can have for life. It can make abstract thoughts concrete.