Out of the Classroom

            Prakash Nair, in his article, “The Classroom Is Obsolete: It’s Time for Something New”, argues that, “The classroom is a relic, left over from the Industrial Revolution,” and that future learners would best be served by actively participating in, “interdisciplinary and real world projects.” Nair doesn’t argue for, ‘blowing up the buildings’ so much as re-designing them to create, ‘“learning studios” and “learning suites”” with an emphasis on providing students, and teachers alike, better access to daylight, fresh air, and nature.

            Of the many institutions which Nair mentions as being models for this, I looked up a few, but the Learning Gate Community School seemed to really be doing an outstanding job of  implementing some of the principles for future learners Nair mentions in his article, particularly the ones about being collaborative, environmentally conscious (they were one of 10 recipients for an award honoring green schools in the US), and building strong relationships with the community, as the above linked FaceBook page attests.

            Personally, I’m a big fan of the concept of moving the learning out of the classroom and into the world. One of the reasons I am taking these classes is that someday I would like to create an educational institution which is built with sustainable materials, featuring a year-round greenhouse/garden, but most importantly, is designed and built by the students themselves. One of the key criteria in the curriculum of this school would be that students spend a majority of their time working on ‘real world’ projects such as maintaining and improving the facility and/or community based volunteer activities, particularly working with the underprivileged and the elderly.

            As I was reading this article, it reminded me of an article I found while we were taking David Flynn’s EDUC 925- Curriculum and Theory class. I really liked the concept of trans-generational collaborative learning in a garden setting.

  
      -g