I found this article to be enlightening, and it gave me some more ideas for our Space -Place Project. As far as questions, one of the things I'm curious about is safety. I suppose this could come up during any field trip and that's why we have chaperones, but in these specific situations I'm picturing one teacher with 20 students running around in the forest or on the beach. Making sure all the children stay close to the group is important, but also as they're collecting materials, I'm wondering how the teacher can avoid children picking up things which could be dangerous. These are 4 and 6 year olds, so I'm sure they wouldn't recognize that they shouldn't touch a hypodermic needle, or a jellyfish on the shore.
Another thing I noticed about this article was the fact that all of the schools used in the study were near some sort of natural land, be it forest, sea, or even a large school yard. In situations where the school is in the center of a busy city with no access to outdoor materials we would have to come up with some very different ideas as far as collection and interaction with objects. The positive aspect of that is there are usually museums and other places of cultural richness to explore nearby. I think it was important that the students from Greece had actual material to bring back to the classroom, to further the enrichment, but also to stay interested. If we simply take the children back inside with no reference to the amazing experience they had outside, they would become restless and the project would not have the desired impact. With schools in the urban areas, what kind of things could we collect and bring back with us? Maybe sketches, photos, brochures, I don't know... something to think about.
Shannon I had the same concerns as you when reading this article. Safety is a main concern as an educator as well as my top priority when working with children, that is why I feel as if this act of attending the place you are researching to collect materials is not as possible as it seems. As a student who attended New York City Public Schools trips like this were not allowed because of the danger it brings. I think a better way to ensure safety would be photographic evidence. As a teacher it would be your job to gather the evidence with efficient pictures taken in multiple perspectives so your students can get the closest possible observations of the objects.
ReplyDeleteI think that for those in city schools who don't have access to such open places like this, it is even more important to have these types of experiences. Making bigger trips and maybe traveling farther away to experience culturally rich and environmentally rich experiences will be very beneficial. Having this chorotopos experience will be beneficial and allow the students to experience something different and develop from the experience.
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