What happens when a garden becomes a laboratory, a laboratory becomes a space for discovery, and plants become the starting point for exploring questions about the past, the future, and even life beyond Earth?
This is the idea behind the educational activities developed within the Green Stories project – a joint Latvian-Lithuanian initiative aimed at strengthening interest in natural sciences, environmental protection, and the importance of flora to humanity.
The project partners – Aukštaitija National Park and the Labanoras Regional Park Directorate in Lithuania, and Daugavpils University in Latvia – are developing new educational approaches that go beyond traditional classroom learning. The activities invite children and young people to observe, investigate, experiment, create and discuss, connecting biology and environmental science with technology, art, mathematics, engineering and even space research.
Learning from plants – through experience
In Lithuania, the newly developed educational activities take place in the Historical Plants Garden in Palūšė.
The garden itself becomes a learning environment where participants are encouraged to slow down, look more closely, and discover what is often overlooked.
During “Biologist’s Laboratory”, students become young researchers. Equipped with investigation tools, they explore plants in the garden, identify and measure them, record observations, and present their findings. The activity introduces participants to the practical work of a biologist and demonstrates that scientific discoveries often begin with a simple act of paying attention.
In “The Green Time Machine”, plants become living witnesses of history. Participants explore historical and contemporary plants, trace their connections with different periods, and discuss what plants were grown by previous generations, which have survived to the present day, and why plant diversity is a heritage worth preserving.
“Green Garden Stories through the Senses” offers a different way of learning. Participants explore the garden through all five senses – observing colours and forms, discovering textures, scents and sounds, and creating their own sensory maps. The activity encourages a more personal relationship with nature and shows that understanding the environment can begin not only with knowledge, but also with experience.
The educational cycle is complemented by “The Green Museum of the Future”, where participants turn observations of plants into creative visions. Inspired by forms, colours, textures and stories found in the garden, they create their own interpretations and contribute to a symbolic collection of the “Green Museum of the Future”.
These first activities have already demonstrated how an outdoor space can become much more than a place to visit. During the first educational sessions, participants investigated the garden, worked in teams, used all five senses and connected scientific observation with creativity.
Learning across the border
The same principle is being explored in Latvia. Daugavpils University has developed and tested innovative environmental education activities focused on natural grasslands, plant identification, medicinal plants, and flowering plants.
During pilot activities in May and June 2026, students from Daugavpils Design and Art School “Saules skola” took part in hands-on nature exploration. They learned to identify plant species, investigated medicinal plants through their scent, colour, and texture, and combined botanical knowledge with artistic sketches and digital e-posters.
Future teachers from Daugavpils University also participated, testing how research-based and interdisciplinary approaches could be integrated into future school lessons. Their experience demonstrated the value of combining botany with art and modern technologies to develop students’ critical thinking and creativity.
One project, many ways of discovering nature
Although the activities developed by the Lithuanian and Latvian partners take place in different environments and use different methods, they share a common approach: learning starts with curiosity and continues through direct experience.
A plant can become a historical document, a biological specimen, a sensory experience, a genetic code, a technology model, a component of an ecosystem or even a potential partner in a future space mission.
By bringing together educators, scientists, students, artists and nature enthusiasts, the Green Stories project creates new opportunities to see natural sciences not as a collection of facts, but as a way of asking questions about the world around us – and about the future we want to create.
