Connected Learning

Connecting learning to the world and to life is one of the items on my list of what a quality education is. I don’t believe that educators purposefully limit the learning experiences of young people. I have experienced educators being incredibly sincere – with the highest and best of intentions. The limitation is in the educational model and the system within which these people work. Dr. Deming told us that systems actually produced behavior. Put the same people in a different system and get different behavior.

About 5 or 6 years ago we did a small engagement with the Milwaukee Public School system. In one of the sessions we facilitated with them we brought 30 inner city youth out to a YMCA camp for the weekend. This was the first time any of these young people had been outside the inner city. We played stick ball on ice, played in the snow and did some design work with these young people on defining what a healthy community is.

All young people need an opportunity to experience their community – and the natural environment around them – as part of their learning experience.

Here’s an article about Nature Deficit Disorder. It describes the remarkable fact that too many young people go through their early lives without the connection to their natural environment – and this article reminds us that Howard Gardner has added Naturalist Intelligence as an eight intelligence.

Curing Nature Deficit Disorder
By Milton Chen
Helping students develop their nature quotient provides a valuable pathway for developing the other intelligences.

Digital and Physical Media