The landscape game: teaching environmentally friendly landscape design principles to homeowners

Abstract

One of the challenges of teaching environmentally friendly landscaping practices to adult homeowner clientele in Florida lies in presenting material in such a way that participants will, 1) be able to understand and use the information presented and, 2) enjoy the learning experience itself. Research on adult education indicates that adults who are actively involved in the teaching/learning process learn better. They prefer active methods of teaching and learning as opposed to passive methods. I developed "The Landscape Design Game" in order to teach landscape design practices more effectively to adult clientele. I have been using this active teaching technique with clientele for the past 6 years. More than a thousand individuals have participated in sessions in which the "The Landscape Design Game" was used. Formal 'scoring' of the designs created by participants indicate that emphasized con cepts are being understood and applied. Personal observation and informal evaluations show that "The Landscape Design
Game" is a highly enjoyable learning activity.