Outdoor Learning Family Class makes mud with Heather Posner

In honor of Earth Day, our Public Programs Manager Heather Posner shares some thoughts about environmental programming for children:

“Cow Hollow School in the Presidio shares some lovely affinities with our Museum: they also have a Patrick Dougherty sculpture, access to bountiful natural resources, and a strong belief in the importance of sharing nature with children.  This blog, written by one of their teachers, suggests some wonderful tips about what TO DO with young children outside, but especially poignant is the “What to Avoid With Young Children.”  It can be easy to “teach” children how to take care of our word through didactic messages, but ultimately spending time playing outside allows children to construct their own respect for nature which will last longer than any bumper sticker wisdom.  This beautiful quote at the end is an eloquent example of how to foster this in the lives of the children we know:

“I was thinking, how do I teach kids to love nature and understand the importance of conservation? I don’t want to tell them, love the planet, love gardening, or do everything to ‘save the planet.’ I want to do what my father did- love it myself and share the joy of it with the children.” -Tanya Ellsworth, September 2007

- Heather Posner, Public Programs Manager

Is Sweden’s Classroom-Free School the Future of Learning?
by Liz Dwyer; re-posted by Zakary Zide

The traditional setup of school classrooms—straight rows of desks with accompanying chairs—doesn’t do much to foster creativity or collaboration. Many experts have proposed redesigning classroom furniture, but a Swedish school system wants to take things a step further. Vittra, which operates 30 schools in Sweden, is seeking to ensure learning takes place everywhere on campus by eliminating classrooms altogether.

The newest Vittra school, Telefonplan, opened its doors last August. Designed by architecture firm Rosan Bosch, the Stockholm-area campus seems more like a creative space you’d find at Google or Pixar than a school at all. Students can work independently on their laptops while lounging on one of the “sitting islands” in the photo above. If they need to collaborate with their peers on a project, they can take advantage of spaces like “the village”—a tiny house for group work—or the more open “organic conversation furniture” pictured below.

Jannie Jeppesen, the principal of Vittra Telefonplan writes on the school’s website that the design is intended to stimulate “children’s curiosity and creativity” and offer them opportunities for both collaborative and independent time. Vittra doesn’t award traditional grades, either—students are taught in groups according to level—so maximizing diverse teaching and learning situations is a priority.

The open nature of the campus and the unusual furniture arrangements reflect the school’s philosophy that “children play and learn on the basis of their needs, curiosity, and inclination.” That’s true for kids all over the world, so let’s hope educators in other countries begin to pay attention.

More interesting photos and content here.

What is the purpose of a mud puddle?

During a recent Connections program, it seemed all too quiet at the front corner of the Outdoor Learning Lab. When I rounded the corner to enter the digging node, I heard a soft splat-splat-splat. A solitary girl, 4 years old, was standing with her belly pressed against the stainless steel dirt trough. She was concentrating intently; lifting mud by the handful and slinging it gently back onto the surface of an expertly mixed bog of soil and water. A smile slowly spread across her face as I watched her submerge first her fingertips, then her palms and finally her wrists in the cool mud puddle.

Conservationist Rachel Carson told us:
Being with a child is largely a matter of becoming receptive to what lies all around you. It is learning again to use your eyes, ears, nostrils, and fingertips, opening up the disused channels of sensory impression. For most of us knowledge comes largely through sight, yet we look about with such unseeing eyes that we are partially blind. One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, “What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?”

Before environmental stewardship comes empathy for the natural world. Before empathy come direct and authentic encounters with nature. Mud puddles provide children with a place to become immersed. A child might explore the possible changes in color, sound, texture, and smell as she mixes water into soil. She might notice the tickle of tangled roots from the grasses last growing in that soil. She may wonder why a tiny millipede is running off in such a rush as she mixes and pours. Or perhaps she’ll simply absorb how the reflection of late afternoon sun bouncing off of the surface of wet earth can make her feel calm, connected, and secure. This is a beginning. This is the purpose of a mud puddle.
- Heather Miller, Connections Manager

We have been exploring some options for programming to coincide with artist Patrick Dougherty’s creative process. He built the beloved Haywire willow sculpture in Lookout Cove (see our video saying goodbye to Haywire) and will be returning in January 2012 to create something new. We have been experimenting with bending, weaving, snagging, and flexing reed to understand the weaving/sculpting process and make it our own.