The environment in which we learn and teach
In times of change, learners inherit the Earth….. While the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
Eric Hoffer
Eric Hoffer
What does your environment look like?
Campfires-Watering-holes-and-Caves
Camp Fire
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Watering Hole
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Caves |
The campfire is where we share knowledge and information with others. This is about preserving knowledge and, in the past, where technologies for encoding information (such as writing, books and, now, the Internet) were not developed, this was an essential means of ensuring that essential information was not lost to the community, that it did not, for example, die with one individual. The oral traditions – the stories – of many cultures are the embodiments of their campfires.
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The watering hole is where creative discussions take place. Information does not exist in a vacuum – we have to make sense of it, put it into a context. The same data can mean different things to different groups at different times and, in the end, the sense made of all knowledge is contingent on time and place. We are social animals and so the watering hole is a place where we explore knowledge in the context of the community.
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Although we are social animals, we also need time alone. The cave is a place where we retire to construct meaning for ourselves. It is a place of solitude and reflection, where we go inside and synthesize the information to which we have been exposed.
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David Thornburg on the Evolving Classroom (Big Thinkers Series)
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The mountain topThe mountain top is where we publicly demonstrate our knowledge and understanding. This is a ‘peak experience,’ where we demonstrate mastery and teach others in the community and beyond.
Using Thornburg’s ideas of ‘learning spaces,’ it is easy to see how making some changes to the way we think about learning and how we set up environments for our kids to learn can make a difference to the quality of educational outcomes. |
Handout !!
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modern-learning-environments
http://blog.core-ed.org/blog/2013/02/modern-learning-environments-not-any-colour-as-long-as-its-black.html |
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Classroom Architecture
Planning a classroom tool
standard classroom 26foot by 22foot
To use this tool:
1. Select the basic dimensions of the room from the Room Dimensions drop downs.
2. Drag objects to the grid from the Items bar, or draw in your own objects with the Draw bar. Arrows will allow you to change the position of some items. Delete an object by dragging it to the trashcan at the bottom, or by clicking 'delete' on your keyboard.
3. Print out your classroom creation. If you have trouble printing, take a screenshot of your floor plan, paste into a doc, and print the doc. Floor plans can be saved to a cookie on your computer and can only be viewed on this computer.
standard classroom 26foot by 22foot
To use this tool:
1. Select the basic dimensions of the room from the Room Dimensions drop downs.
2. Drag objects to the grid from the Items bar, or draw in your own objects with the Draw bar. Arrows will allow you to change the position of some items. Delete an object by dragging it to the trashcan at the bottom, or by clicking 'delete' on your keyboard.
3. Print out your classroom creation. If you have trouble printing, take a screenshot of your floor plan, paste into a doc, and print the doc. Floor plans can be saved to a cookie on your computer and can only be viewed on this computer.
Readings
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learning_environment_infographic.pdf | |
File Size: | 584 kb |
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