The Edible School Yard
The first video podcast that I watched was The Edible School Yard. I was totally blown away and the first thing that came to mind was something that Randy Pausch talked about in his last lecture. He had a term that he used "head fake", which is basically when you gain a skill that you don't even know that you are learning. In this case these children are learning so much but they are having a great time doing it and probably won't even truly grasp the entirety of what they have learned for years to come. The Edible School Yard consists of a 1+ acre garden and kitchen classroom which are basically learning labs where students at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California learn many subjects. Social Studies, Math, Science, and lessons in life are just a few things that are covered. The garden classes teach the principles of Ecology, the origins of food, and respect for all living systems. The students have to learn to work together. They plant beds, amend soil, turn compost, and harvest what they have grown.
In the kitchen, students prepare and eat dishes from the produce they have grown.Daily educational opportunities are designed to integrate culture, history, language, ecology, biology, and other related subject areas into the preparation of the food. The students really seem to enjoy growing, harvesting, preparing, and eating the produce. They also gain a wonderful sense of pride from taking part in the entire process!
The Night in the Global Village
This project which includes students from the Rocky Mountain Expeditionary School in Denver, Colorado was an amazing first hand experience to raise the students awareness on issues like poverty and hunger that is unfortunately a reality in many other countries. The project is made possible by the Global Gateway Program. Students were taken to the Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. This is a 5 acre property owned by Heifer International which is a non-profit organization that donates livestock to impoverished families. On the 5 acre property there are areas that are setup to represent living conditions that would be found in places such as Guatemala, Thailand, Zambia, Appalachia, and even a refugee camp. Students are split up into groups and then told where they are going to live for the night and the resources that are readily available to them. No group has everything that would be needed to survive so they are forced to barter with neighboring countries to get everything they need. In addition to the hard conditions one member from each group must also carry around a water balloon in a pouch that represents a baby and another member loses a limb. The refugees had it hardest of all, for they started out with nothing, including not being able to speak at all or build a fire. At times all of the students seemed to experience frustrations about their living conditions. The following day the students got to talk with each other and the adults about the experiences. I think it was an eye opener for all of them to actually experience, even if only for a night, what many experience on a daily basis.
Each of these video podcasts were awesome. What a wonderful way to enforce things that the students are learning. There is no better way for children to learn than to actually experience it for themselves. I would love to be able to give these opportunities to my students. I think that it would be a learning experience that would stay with them for the rest of their lives!!! TRULY AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 comment:
EXCELLENT! I agree in that what better way to learn than by experience. Wonderful summary.
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