STEMworks

Green Our Planet

Impact

Since 2013, Green Our Planet has improved STEM education for over 130,000 students through implementing more than 220 school gardens and school hydroponics programs across the country.

  • Target Audience
    • All Students
  • Program Type
    • Curriculum/Instructional Materials
    • Hands-on/Project-Based
  • Location
    • Nationwide
  • Grade Level
    • K
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

Contact

Ciara Byrne
Co-Founder and Co-CEO

Email ProgramLaunch Website

Accomplished Program has been evaluated and meets the Design Principles for quality.

  • Need Accomplished
  • Evaluation Developing
  • Sustainability Accomplished
  • Replication & Scalability Accomplished
  • Partnerships Accomplished
  • Capacity Accomplished
  • Challenging & Relevant Content Developing
  • STEM Practices Developing
  • Inspiration Accomplished
  • Under-Represented Groups Accomplished

See full results

I couldn’t be more proud of Ciara Byrne, one of our 2019 #ObamaFellows, who not only helps students understand and learn science and math concepts, but also helps them understand the importance of taking care of our planet.

Michelle Obama

Former First Lady

Design Principles

The programs in this database clear a high bar. STEMworks reviewed each program against the Design Principles for Effective STEM Philanthropy. Programs must be Accomplished (accomplished) across all Design Principles, or be Developing (developing) in a maximum of three areas.

Overarching Principles

  • Need Accomplished

    Identify and target a compelling and well-defined need.

  • Evaluation Developing

    Use rigorous evaluation to continuously measure and inform progress towards the compelling need identified.

  • Sustainability Accomplished

    Ensure work is sustainable.

  • Replication & Scalability Accomplished

    Demonstrate replicability and scalability.

  • Partnerships Accomplished

    Create high impact partnerships.

  • Capacity Accomplished

    Ensure organizational capacity to achieve goals.

STEM Principles

  • Challenging & Relevant Content Developing

    Offer challenging and relevant STEM content for the target audience.

  • STEM Practices Developing

    Incorporate and encourage STEM practices.

  • Inspiration Accomplished

    Inspire interest and engagement in STEM.

  • Under-Represented Groups Accomplished

    Identify and address the needs of under-represented groups.

Program Overview

Green Our Planet is a nonprofit education organization that runs the largest and most comprehensive STEM school garden and hydroponics programs in the United States. Green Our Planet uses school gardens and hydroponics as hands-on learning tools to increase student academic performance in STEM subjects. Green Our Planet’s programs are built upon standards-aligned STEM curricula for grades K-5, which also include lessons on nutrition, financial literacy and conservation. The experiential curricula empowers educators to help students connect STEM concepts to real-life applications using school gardens and indoor hydroponics.

Funders and Partners

Green Our Planet’s generous funders, partners and supporters include the following businesses and organizations: Switch, Consumer Technology Association, The Brees Dream Foundation, The Andre Agassi Foundation for Education and the Obama Foundation. Please view a full list of our sponsors and supporters on our website.