As teachers,
we often talk about “the real world” and discuss “real life learning” believing
that somehow our students know what we mean. I often wonder if they do
understand and challenge myself to find out what more I can do to make
learning real for them.
We do a lot
of project and problem solving learning at PDS and try to be as authentic as
possible. This year my 6th graders participated in a global
conference in Geneva with a panel of futurists, connected with other schools around
the world during a 20/20 Education for All Challenge, worked in local service
learning projects and Skyped with authors and other people globally. Is this
enough?
Our latest
“real life” project has been to help to design, plan and soon build a solar
studio for our school to share. This came about through one of our parents,
Glen Callahan from American Green Home Builders who generously offered to sponsor
and create this exciting project that would involve the kindergarten and their
6th grade buddies.
Big and little students
were so excited when Glen’s team came to tell us more about this project and
ask for our ideas and suggestions. They showed us amazing buildings using
Sketch Up (a program many of my students are familiar with) and explained all
the reasons for building a “green “ structure. Our students enthusiastically came up with a whole bunch of
great ideas for this dream studio…some unrealistic and some very doable. Some
of the most important details in their sketches were seating, electricity,
charging stations and windows.
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| Glen's team presenting their idea to our students |
We then used
buddy time to worked in small groups to design our own buildings using Sketch Up.
The older students became the teachers, explaining the program and guiding
their little buddies so they could create their own dream playhouses.
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| One of the student plans… |
We then
waited on the final plans to arrive.....
Glen’s team
eventually arrived enthusiastically with their computers and tools, as excited students watched the plans being
revealed. Included was the important seating, windows, electricity and charging stations… and everyone
was delighted. We learned a lot about how this building would be energy efficient by finding the right angle for our building and how the roof
overhang would regulate the amount of sun coming in for winter heat and shade
for cooling in the summer. Students were surprised to find out that Sketch Up tools were used to determine the amount of
sun and that they are available for anyone to use.
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| The plans for our solar studio. |
Our next
step was to take a field trip to the American Green Homes facility in Kingston,
NY and watch as some pre fab structures were being built.
Everyone was amazed at the size of the factory and the huge tools used
for construction. I think we had several students who would like to try their hand at this kind of work. Lunch in the architect's office helped us feel part of the company for the day and we even had an unexpected side trip to behind the factory where a number of antique trains were stored for restoration. Of course,
we had to finish off with some ice cream after our day’s work.
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| Antique Train |
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| Enjoying a break with ice cream |
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| Executive Meeting |
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| A wall almost completed |
We are now waiting in anticipation as our walls are built, insulation and wiring inserted and windows installed. The pre fab pieces will soon be delivered to our school and our students will help with some of the assembly. So in this case, I think these students understand and have lived authentic, real life learning…
