Planting Seeds for Meaningful Education

 

 

When speaking of regaining a sense of belonging, a timeless image emerges: the ancient story of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Whether myth or material reality, the gardens symbolise more than architectural achievement. They represent a powerful symbol about human environments: that belonging is not inherent to a place but constructed through deliberate cultivation and shared effort. Collective care and participation can transform space into home. When individuals feel recognised and included within their environment, learning becomes not only possible but transformative. Belonging does not merely accompany education, it enables it. This sense of belonging is a foundational condition for meaningful education, and a key part for the Erasmus+ project ONE-Culture: Overcoming Nationalism and Euroscepticism through Culture.

Written by Julie Zimmerman, Quiosq

 

Hanging gardens

The legend of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon illustrates that belonging emerges where Participation, inclusivity, and sustained collective care intersect. Gardens are engineered landscapes: terraces built, irrigation systems designed, vegetation cultivated. Their vitality depends on ongoing maintenance. They existed through sustained care and participation. Similarly, educational environments are not neutral containers of knowledge; they are structured systems that either cultivate or inhibit connection.

Educational theorist John Dewey argued that learning is rooted in experience and interaction with one’s environment (Dewey, 1938). If the environment feels alienating, participation diminishes. Students who perceive themselves as outsiders, either culturally, socially, or intellectually, often disengage with new material. In contrast, when learners feel seen and valued, they invest attention and effort. Belonging creates safety, which in turn encourages curiosity and risk-taking (Allen, 2021). Students must see their identities, histories, and perspectives reflected in the learning space, and in turn experience other cultural contexts.

Belonging

Just as the Hanging Gardens were said to recreate a familiar landscape within an unfamiliar terrain, education must bridge personal experience with shared knowledge. When educators acknowledge diverse narratives and lived realities, learners recognise themselves within the broader intellectual landscape. Belonging shapes emotional and social development, and when individuals feel anchored within a community, whether local, national or international, they are more likely to collaborate, empathise, and assume responsibility. Cultural dialogue strengthens this empathy for one another. Through this cultural dialogue, students will learn how to navigate diversity with openness rather than fear. Within the project ONE-Culture, we strive to support this ongoing dialogue by highlighting the appreciation of our common heritage and by creating an environment where students and teachers can feel like they can belong.

Education flourishes where participation is invited rather than restricted. Classrooms that encourage cultural dialogue, collaboration, and shared responsibility mirror cultivated gardens. They require collective tending. When students contribute ideas, question assumptions, and co-construct understanding, they move from passive agents to active participants. This way of teaching is aligned with the concept of constructivist learning, wherein students are encouraged to construct knowledge and meaning by actively participating (Hein, 1991). This shift in the approach of education deepens retention and critical thinking because knowledge becomes something built together, not merely delivered.

A garden cannot be rushed

Growth, whether botanical or intellectual, is not linear. It requires patience, repetition, and sustained care. In such spaces, mistakes become part of growth rather than sources of shame. Belonging shapes emotional and social development, and when individuals feel anchored within a culture and community, they are more likely to collaborate, empathise, and assume responsibility.

A garden cannot be rushed. Seeds require preparation, water, sunlight, and ongoing attention. Likewise, learning requires environments structured to support development. Just as the Hanging Gardens symbolised life sustained through engineering and labour, effective education symbolises growth sustained through active participation and collaboration.

Therefore, education is most effective where belonging is deliberately constructed. Belonging, then, is not a sentimental addition to education. It is its soil. Where individuals feel at home within a learning environment, they dare to explore, to question, and to grow.

Sources:

Allen, Kelly-Ann, Margaret L. Kern, Christopher S. Rozek, Dennis M. McInerney, and George M. Slavich. 2021. “Belonging: A Review of Conceptual Issues, an Integrative Framework, and Directions for Future Research.” Australian Journal of Psychology 73 (1): 87–102. doi:10.1080/00049530.2021.1883409.

Dewey, J. 1938. “Education and Experience.”

Hein, George E. 1991. Constructivist Learning Theory. Institute for Inquiry. http://beta.edtechpolicy.org/AAASGW/Session2/const_inquiry_paper.pdf.

Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash