COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD OF EXCELLENCE Planting for the Future: Improving Math Skills through Landscape Architecture Reyna Baeza, Student ASLA, Alfredo Cornejo, Student ASLA, Alvaro Figueroa, Student ASLA, Terry Lu, Student ASLA, J. Marshall Mason, Student ASLA, Donna Yeung, Student ASLA and Jennifer Yi, Student ASLA California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, La Puente, California Faculty Advisor: Gerald Taylor, Jr., ASLA

	"Powerful! Introducing landscape architecture curricula into elementary and middle schools accomplishes so many good things on many levels. It's a terrific project." — 2007 Student Awards Jury Comments

Project Statement
This project truly exemplifies all of which Landscape Architecture can encompass. This project opened a world of possibilities for a group of disadvantaged students. It developed a sustainable design, increased student achievement and comprehension of math skills, exposed students to the benefits of a college education and to the profession of Landscape Architecture. Through community service projects like this, our profession will continue to grow, expand and pave the way for future generations to come.

Project Narrative
Lassalette Middle School is located in La Puente, CA and is part of the Hacienda-La Puente School District. There are about 250 students in grades 6-8, and they share the facilities with a K-5 program. 94% of the student population is Hispanic, 85% of which are identified as English language learners. The students are predominantly from low income families with 95% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. There are several critical issues to be addressed that include the below average performance scores of the students. The first area is that of mathematics. Testing data (STAR 2006), shows that 75% of 6^th graders, 73% of 7^th graders, and 81% of 8^th graders scored in the far below, or below average in basic categories. Areas of weakness include Ratios, Proportions, Percentages, Measurement, Geometry, Number Sense, and Mathematical Reasoning. Secondly, students are exhibiting room for improvement in the verbal and written forms of communication. Most of the student population is identified as at-risk and school staff has sought out a variety of after-school, enrichment and intervention programs to engage their students in the learning process. In working on improving math skills based on California content standards, Lassalette Middle School was the recipient of a 2007 Edison International New Era Award. This award included a grant to be applied towards a program that would better the children’s proficiency in math as well as better the environment by designing a garden at their school. A series of promotional ads were projected in local movie theaters to publicize the project to the local community.

The students involved and benefiting from this program are 33 students in grades 6^th to 8th. Most of the students are 6^th graders and identified by teachers as the lowest performing students. The program was geared towards improving math skills and exposing the students to the benefits of a college education and the discipline of Landscape Architecture. The program highlighted the study of Landscape Architecture and career opportunities in the field. This provided direct interaction with professionals and college students majoring in landscape architecture. This interaction exposed them to a career they might not otherwise know existed or would have considered.

The goals of the project were to develop a sustainable design, increase student achievement and comprehension of math skills, expose students to the benefits and opportunities of a college education and lastly exposure to the profession of Landscape Architecture. To help us meet these goals we came up with several objectives. The first objective was to develop lessons that would target their specific areas of weakness. These lessons would be integrated with math principles that Landscape Architects typically deal with. Within the weekly lessons we used terminology that is common in the profession to expand the students’ vocabulary. Another objective for our team was to serve as mentors and role models. In addition to interacting with students during tutoring sessions, this objective included a visit to our campus and included a tour of the Landscape Architecture studios and facilities, and tours of a native plant garden and a Japanese garden on campus. Another significant objective was to teach them the “tools of the trade” so that they felt confident applying these skills to design a garden for their school.

Our 7-member team set out to develop a creative math-based program that would focus on sustainable principles of Landscape Architecture. The intervention program involved real-world applications as the best approach to achieve the project’s goals and objectives. The students would then apply their newly acquired math skills to a tangible garden project that could then be shared with the rest of the school and community. This type of experience provided the students with the opportunity to see how abstract math principles are used everyday in the real world. Lesson plans and lectures that highlighted Landscape Architecture allowed the students to become aware of the profession and served as a method to nurture environmental stewardship.

The lessons were created to get the students to use their new supply kits of architectural and engineering scales, angles, compasses, protractors, templates & illustration tools. We centered the lessons to be hands-on and practical; something that we found fully engaged the students’ attention. Through the lessons we showed the students that math is fun and can be of use every day. During many of the lessons we took the students outdoors to apply their newly learned skills. This included calculating slope, pace measurements, area, volume, materials, dimensioning, irrigation and drawing to scale. We also presented short lectures on the importance of the local watershed, sustainability, phyto-remediation, native plants, green roofs, energy and water conservation and sustainable materials. We also led a design charette that involved the school’s administrators, teachers, and students.

The final outcome of this community service learning project culminates in the construction of a school garden that the students helped create. This garden is a direct result of differentiated instruction and re-teaching of math concepts and hands-on participation of the students. Throughout the program the students served as vital members of the project team for the design, development and construction of this garden all while learning new concepts of Landscape Architecture. This school garden not only benefits the students that participated in the program but also the school, their families and the community. This garden has instilled in them a sense of pride in their school and will encourage them to continue to better themselves in order to better their community. This project has been such a great success, and the students are so enthusiastic about Landscape Architecture that they want it to continue creating gardens for their school. The school plans to partner with the university again next year and apply for grants to expand the garden and intervention program.

This year our senior class took part in the 50^th anniversary celebration of the Department of Landscape Architecture on our campus. The theme was “50 years of EXPANDING the TERRAIN of landscape architecture education”. Our team truly feels that this project has exemplified this theme. Our department has always fostered critical, forward and principled thinking concerning the roles and responsibilities of our profession in society. This project not only opened a world of possibilities for us as professionals but for a group of disadvantaged students and their community. It developed a sustainable garden design, increased student achievement and comprehension of math skills, exposed students to the benefits of a college education and to the profession of Landscape Architecture. Through community service projects like this, our profession will continue to grow, expand and pave the way for future generations to come.