Sustainability and education through social networks. Presence and visibility of the school garden on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

• Published in: International journal of educational research and innovation no. 16; pp. 122 - 141
• Main Authors: Álvarez-Herrero, Juan-Francisco, Urrea-Solano, Mayra, Martínez-Roig, Rosabel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.12.2021
• DOI: 10.46661/ijeri.5940
• ISSN: 2386-4303

The use of school gardens as an educational practice in Spanish educational centers has recently regained greater prominence and significance, especially within the framework of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. However, the presence and visibility of school gardens as well as the ways in which centers use them remain little known to the educational community. Furthermore, in a world where our lives are increasingly governed by the digital and the Internet, social networks arise as fantastic tools to give prominence and disseminate the educational actions which take place in schools. Seeking to ascertain the extent to which school gardens are visible and present on social media, as well as how schools use those school gardens, we carried out the collection and analysis of the last 100 posts appearing with the hashtag #huertoescolar on three social networks: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It follows from the results obtained not only that educational centers record these practices preferably on Twitter, then on Facebook and finally on Instagram, but also that they utilize school gardens mostly to ensure the practical application of the theoretical contents taught in different academic subjects as well as to encourage students’ environmental awareness. Greater use of school gardens is still needed to work on Sustainable Development Goals, though.