Norm Lownds
lownds@msu.edu
Principal Investigator, Comm Tech Lab
Curator, Michigan 4H Children's Garden
Associate Professor, Department of Horticulture

Associate Professor and Curator, 4-H Children’s Garden, Department of Horticulture, Norm Lownds directs all aspects of the Michigan 4-H Children’s Garden, including several very successful classroom outreach programs. He has developed the “Connected Classrooms” program where students and teachers connect with the 4-H Children’s Garden and Dr. Norm to enhance and expand their science explorations. Through this program, classrooms are connecting to scientists in different parts of the country, exploring science in the garden, creating web pages of their discoveries, and learning that science is interesting and fun. He has also developed a summer garden program, “Kid Curator,” and the award winning “Stories in the Garden,” where teens read to young children. Lownds works closely with the Communication Technology Laboratory to create the child-oriented 4-H Children’s Garden Web site (http://4hgarden.msu.edu) and the various explorations and activities there. Dr. Lownds also serves as the chair of the National Children and Youth Gardening Advisory Panel for the American Horticultural Society.