HUERTOS ESCOLARES: APRENDIZAJES, VÍNCULOS Y SIGNIFICADOS

<p><strong>Background: </strong>School gardens implemented at the international, national and regional levels have proven to be a valuable tool for education and sustainable development. However, in the region of Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, there is little permanence of these projects, which affects efforts to offer comprehensive environmental education and promote healthy eating in the student population, becoming a crucial point of study. The descriptive study was carried out at the Federal Secondary School No. 4 David Alfaro Siqueiros, Xalapa city. <strong>Objective</strong>: To evaluate the impact of a school garden on the learning, links and intrinsic purposes of the students, considering these aspects as factors for the self-determination of students to act on issues of sustainable agriculture and healthy eating. <strong>Methodology</strong>: The research was developed in two phases: 1) a qualitative survey on a Likert scale was designed, validated (experts and statistically) and applied to students to obtain their initial opinions; 2) after the implementation of the garden and the holding of workshops related to agriculture and healthy eating, a second survey was applied to 80 students who actively participated in the workshops to determine the changes in their opinions at the end of the school year. <strong>Results:</strong> The results show that the intervention process failed to generate statistically significant changes in learning about what the school garden entails, the plant growth processes, planting, care, harvesting and subsequent processing of vegetables for consumption; in the bonds that develop when working as a team and or differences in the meaning that working in the school garden has for them. <strong>Implications:</strong> The analysis of the observations in the process and the discourse analysis made it possible to identify factors that affected the process and determine the importance of the continuation of the process. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> Although the garden is an important teaching tool, a longitudinal study is required to analyze the various factors that affect the permanence of the school garden.</p>