Project promotes sustainable learning and mental health among university community

Following the path toward innovation in education and health, the Department of Education and Specific Didactics of the Universitat Jaume I is developing Hort4Health. Under the direction of Mireia Adelantado Renau, lecturer in the Department of Didactics of Experimental Sciences, this leading project seeks to analyze and investigate in an interdisciplinary way the impact of integrating an eco-educational garden in the classrooms where students learn about health, sustainability and emotional well-being, thus offering a solid scientific basis on the benefits of these practices.

The Hort4Health project emerges in response to the growing need to promote healthy habits among young people, especially in an era where technology and sedentary lifestyles predominate and generate worrying figures. Through practical activities in the garden, students not only study about agriculture and ecology, but also experience the benefits of physical activity and contact with nature for their mental and physical health.

Researcher Adelantado points out that, in this way, "scientific results will be obtained on the current healthy habits of the university community, completing the scarce previous literature on this subject in this population."

The paper is published in the Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education.

This initiative has already involved more than a hundred pupils from the Early Childhood and Primary School Teacher degrees, who have participated in sessions designed to improve their emotional well-being, their connection with the environment and their understanding of the importance of an active and healthy life. Early results indicate a significant positive impact on the physical health of the participants and underline the potential of the garden as an innovative space for learning and well-being.

An important part of this project is the measurement in the theoretical classes within the classrooms. This includes the assessment of the emotional well-being and heart rate of the students, with the aim of contrasting these data with those obtained during the activities in the garden. The results of these analyses suggest that the garden significantly improves the emotional well-being of the students compared to the theoretical sessions, where the level of emotional well-being tends to remain constant.

In addition to its educational and health impact, the Hort4Health project contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and demonstrates Universitat Jaume I's commitment to innovation, sustainability and community well-being.

This approach not only benefits the students, but also "will allow the establishment of collaborations between the research team and other groups, as well as with multiple educational and health institutions, thus facilitating the transfer of results in different sectors," says Adelantado.

This research is linked to the 3rd axis of the Integral Health Plan of the UJI, which encourages the incorporation of health promotion in teaching and research with sustainable and inclusive actions.

More information:
Mireia Adelantado-Renau et al, Promoting healthy and sustainable diets in pre-service teachers: assessment of a teaching-learning sequence contextualized at the university garden, Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education (2025). DOI: 10.1108/jarhe-04-2024-0178

Provided by Jaume I University