The Pandemic Should Be A Time For Early Childhood, K-12, and College To Experiment With New Types of Learning Outside of The Classroom

The experience of sitting in rows of desks while a teacher/professor lectures has brainwashed generations of people into thinking that is the best way to learn. Taking that model and making it virtual is also not ideal.

Humans learn best while actively engaged in learning and when the topics are relevant to their lives.  

‪During the pandemic and even in “normal times”, school buildings themselves can be locations to temporary be during bad weather, to meet up, use the restroom, and engage in some indoor learning; however, we can create active meaningful education experiences students by having students leave the classroom to go out and study, critique, & improve their communities.

‪Literally every block has 1000s of things that can be studied and learned from including the people, animals, trees that live there, the architecture, to how often the bus comes and how many people get on and off, number and types of cars, stores/restaurants, and more.

For example...

‪Remote learning can be interviewing a local small business owner about how they got started, their business model, and the challenges of running their business. Remote learning can be attending a religious service and interviewing a priest, Rabbi, Imam. Remote learning can be doing a video series teaching others about your family’s religious and cultural customs or your neighborhoods history.

‪Remote learning can be watching a TV show/movie/listening to some music/playing a video game/reading a book and then writing a review, doing a video review and or doing a critical analysis of any of those things.  It can be creating a guide on how to beat a video game. Remote learning creating a video tutorial about how to cook/bake something or making a recipe book. It can be playing with toys and then doing a video review of them for youtube (some kids make millions doing this, seriously!) It can be going to different supermarkets in different neighborhoods and cataloging the similarities/differences.

Remote learning can be creating an exercise routine and teaching others about it. Remote learning can be learning to do a Tik Tok dance or creating a new one. Remote learning can be playing with mud or splashing in water. It can be mixing soap up in the sink. It can making a snowman.

Remote learning can be documenting where COVID-19 testing sites are, interviewing people about their testing experience, and creating a blog post about the experience.

‪Remote learning can be mowing a lawn, shoveling snow, babysitting and then writing about the experience after. Remote learning can be a creating a photo journal of your neighborhood. It can be learning about your family history. It can be studying your pet or a neighbor’s pet. It can be counting how many steps are in your house or apartment or measuring the tables and chairs in your home. It can be counting home many planes fly over your house. It can be racing toy cars down a ramp and making a chart of how often each one wins. Remote learning can be attending a protest. Remote learning can be playing a board and then making a strategy guide. It can be checking out books at the local library.

Remote learning can be playing sports and then writing about the experience or doing statistical analysis and creating charts and graphs about the results.

Remote learning can be putting on a fashion show with all your clothes. It can be opening a bank account and learning about budgeting. It can be learning to sew a facemask. It can be writing to a local elected official about how your neighborhood could be improved. It can be translating for a family member or neighbor and or helping them learn another language. It can be watching a sporting event and writing a game story after. It can be joining a fantasy sports league and doing statistical analysis.

‪Students can create blogs and YouTube channels where they share all they are learning. These are just a few examples, but we can use this time to find creative ways to make learning personal, local, relevant and connect students to the communities they live in. These types of activities can be done with toddlers, preschoolers, all the way through high school and college.

You get the idea.

We need to be creative about what learning looks like during a pandemic after we eventually get it under control at every level of education.

Photo source: Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels