Student Led Learning

#EDUC454E100 – Week 6 – June 14, 2018

We are finally at Week 6. Truth. I can’t believe that we are already at Week 6. We are approaching the halfway mark of EDUC454 this summer term. We finally had our FIRST class with all student-led learning activities within the time frame as intended, but we would surely appreciated another hour or two to get to the deep learning that could be achieved and experienced. This is definitely one of my biggest takeaways from this course… MORE TIME. If we want to go beyond surface learning, we need to minimize the breath of knowledge and trade it for depth of knowledge.

Although each student-led learning activity, whether it would be group facilitation, reading summary, or warm-up activity, we could have used more time to explore the learning further. That said, I have some learning activities I would like to share but I am almost coming to terms with the idea that I might have to let go of what I have to share. What students are sharing in the context of Quantitative Approaches to Environmental Education is AMAZING. We are truly gaining a breadth of knowledge because students are asked to personalize their learning and share what’s important and interesting to them within the context of the course. Students are leading this course.

Admittedly, I am reporting these student-led learning activities out of order in this blog… and I hope that’s OK. The first few pictures depict the warm-up activity. Two students spoke to the class, assembled in a circle, about acknowledging the unceeded territory where SFU is situated. We talked about our level of comfort and why it’s important to acknowledge the land and the history. Students, in pairs, were asked to pick one piece of paper that briefly describes an event that happened on the territory at SFU. They were then asked to use their devices to research information about the event they had chosen. From this collaboration, students were asked to stand out in the hall, talk with one another about their chosen event, and form a timeline. A discussion ensued after this formation and one pair walked around the top floor of SFU Surrey. That was bewildering, yet meaningful. I liked how these students used SFU as place and time as a quantitative approach to deepen their understanding of Indigenous history and the land.

The next two photos show the oral presentations of the weekly reading summary. We are reading Gillian Judson’s “A Walking Curriculum” (part one). I loved how each presentation was not a reiteration of what they had read… as one of the student’s said, “I’m not going to list of the activities, you can read it yourself.” I liked how they were able to personalize the information, pick quotes from the book that triggered them in a meaningful way, and took the liberty to be creative and learn “beside the book.” What do I mean by that? One of the presenters, took photos of her place… her community… and created a automated slideshow during her presentation. As she spoke about what she had learned from the book, she went meta and showed the class what she noticed in her environment with photos (which was perfectly timed at 10 minutes).

Another student summarized the first four sections of the book and the importance of follow-up activities. She also reflected on Gillian’s visit to our class and brought up the first activity of remembering an important place that we had a personal connection to and that the book stated that you can’t make an emotional connection to place unless you step foot on it. She picked Crescent Beach as her place and she’s a runner… a competitive long distance runner. She was awestruck with this concept because she couldn’t imagine the number of steps she took running on this beach. She realized after reading Gillian’s book why this place was so important to her and how she was emotionally connected.

The next few photos represent the group facilitation learning activity from 4 students (aka. Group 3) that happened at the beginning of class. Although we did not go outside, this group was able to utilize a half a dozen teaching strategies to facilitate interdisciplinary learning that involved English, Social Studies, Environmental Education, and quantitative approaches. The group facilitation was about being Orwellian and George Orwell’s 1984. We talked about what it means to be Orwellian and “Big Brother is watching” then asked about our comfort level with social media on a scale of 1-10. Most of the class hovered around 3. I was in the minority standing around 9. We had a quick discussion about our positions then challenged with the next task of going in groups of 2-3 and scouting through the mall for examples of “big brother is watching.” This was a nice tie in to Gillian Judson’s book and NOTICING what’s in our environment.

We returned back to discuss with others what we had found and we were encouraged to be as creative and critical with what we had found and hypothesized. It was very interesting what we had thought and wonder what high school students would have noticed doing a similar activity. What I noticed was, there were many messages telling me that I can achieve the perfect life… just buy here. We then transitioned into our next activity where we were divided into groups of 4 and we were asked to review and article about a current event that related to the idea of Orwell. We were asked to discern if what we read was Orwellian and discuss a few follow up questions. My group read about Amazon’s Alexa and the recent event of the device being asked to record and send a couple’s conversation. There were 4 other current event topics that each group had to summarize and share findings. In the end, that activity was about how decisions are made based on data collected and how it can also be used to manipulate your thinking.

Well… I was blown away as to how complex these student led activities can be. The class concludes with our closing activity that addressed another local current event: Kinder Morgan. This student indicated to the class why this topic was of importance to her and asked the class to participate in a simulator activity of activists and lobbyists. The class exercised all three-core competencies even though she focused on the personal/social core competency of social justice. Students did not know of the number of lobbyists were in the crowd but the objective of the game is to find and connect with other environmentalists and not have the group be infiltrated with a lobbyist. What an excellent activity this would be for students to deepen their understanding of the pipeline via role-play and gamification. Roles were randomly assigned. After 10 minutes, the lobbyists had to self-identify. 3 groups had formed and one person opted to standalone. All 3 groups were infiltrated. The lone person won the game. This activity modelled a current event where lobbyists were immersed into a crowd of protesters to influence and assess them.

Weekly Journal Questions

In what ways does the practice and underlying philosophy of The Walking Curriculum align with the BC curriculum?

See above.

„How can imagination- and inquiry-driven outdoor explorations support your teaching?

See above.„

„How are you doing on your inquiry project? What help do you need? How did you get started? Have you changed your mind?

For my inquiry project, I have to carve out time to read THE 100 MILE DIET. I also have to make time to go to the Farmer’s Market on Saturdays in Sechelt. I am curious about the variety of food I can get from local markets, the cost of food, and convenience of obtaining food. I am also drawn to PLASTIC CONSUMPTION when food shopping. I bring my own bags and try not to use any additional plastic bags in produce, for example, but there is A LOT of food wrapped in plastic. I was awakened by this phenomenon. Furthermore, much of this plastic wrap has to be recycled separately because it is soft.

I love how this class has parked the grade aside, for a moment, to focus on what’s possible in the classroom… the core competencies, interdisciplinary learning, and quantitative approaches to environmental education. The definition is broad and we implement ongoing formative assessment to achieve outcomes greater than expected. Learning is fun, engaging, and empowering. I think that we are achieving that and feel safe to delve deep, play, and explore what is possible. This is much like, in many ways, what Trevor MacKenzie writes about… letting go of power for inquiry. I’m not the expert in the class. We are all experts and we are all learners. We’re having too much fun!!!