Abstract: The present paper is an attempt to assess the skills for school gardening for inquiry-based science learning of fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade basic level students of public schools. To achieve this aim, a set of questionnaires was developed to be administered to basic level students. A sample of 404 (N=388) were selected from one action and four reference schools to take part in the present study located in Chitwan and Nawalparasi districts of the Terai region of Nepal. Students from all the selected schools participated in school gardening activities as part of their science curriculum aiming at motivating inquiry-based science teaching and learning. A quantitative analysis involving the use of frequency, Chi-square test at 0.05 level of significance and phi was conducted to see the association between the variables: religion, caste, and language and gardening skills. Weighted percentages were calculated to examine the gardening skills for experiencing inquiry-based science learning. The results showed that school gardening skills were performed better (94.4%) by students belonging to Brahmin/Chhetri Hindu background than the others. The findings also showed a weak association between religious and caste/ethnicity backgrounds of the students and gardening skills. There was no statistically significant difference (α=0.05) between gardening skills of students and the religion they follow, either. Gardening enthusiasm with basic skills varies among students with different basic demographic background of students.Abstract: The present paper is an attempt to assess the skills for school gardening for inquiry-based science learning of fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade basic level students of public schools. To achieve this aim, a set of questionnaires was developed to be administered to basic level students. A sample of 404 (N=388) were selected from one a...Show More
