My Three Top Take-Aways

•  The environment we create and expose our students to has a huge impact on their learning.
• The Design Thinking Process is a valuable tool when trying to analysis a problem and come to a possible solution that sparks creativity.
• We must foster creativity and value it!

Experience Place / Space Projects

The Experience Place / Space projects were all so unique and personal.  I really felt like a little piece of each person shined through their projects.  It was an emotional roller coaster!  We went through a whole array of emotions using our senses.  I was delighted to be able to use my sense of taste during one of the presentations.  We often forget how powerful our sense are and how we can stimulate them.

Orange and Yellow

Mark Rothko

Today we discussed Mark Rothko's painting (Orange and Yellow)  and how it depicts creativity.  All too often we place our students in a box and block their creativity instead of  producing something they think we “want”.  We would get so much more if we let them explore and create their own work without setting limits.  When we foster creativity anything is possible.  Rothko allows the observer to create the experience without being confined to one idea.

Experience Place / Space Assignment

                                        

Reflection

This project certainly left me perplexed when I first attempted to wrap my head around the concept.  My idea came to me in a "Eureka" moment when we were walking back from our beautiful hike.  Our hike allowed me to  realize how much we do not value the outdoors as a learning ecology.  The wilderness has so much to offer us by stimulating all of our senses.  As teachers, we must make an effort to make use of this amazing ecology that has been created for us.  By allowing our students to experience nature they will shine in ways other ecology would limit their ability and experience. I used the audio of the waterfall from our hike, as well as, the leaves I collected to document the hike.  When watching my animation please keep the following question in mind:

Beautiful Leaves!

Along our hike I collected beautiful leaves to capture the beauty of our walk.  Above is a collection of the various green leaves I found.  

Student Centered Learning

Our conversation about the new NS model for education really depicted how the system does not really have the student at the center.  It’s design is limiting by making curriculum the goal instead of considering what the student needs. The second design is much more students centered and conducive for true learning.  It’s unfortunate to think that our government does not put students first.  I really liked these visuals.  It’s a great way to see how these disciplines are interconnected.  

Struggle = Growth!

This quote made me think of our hike.  It took me feeling uncomfortable with my surroundings  to really be able to reflect and appreciate the hike.  It's through struggle that we grow, without it we can't.  I feel like I have been struggling through this course but am now seeing the growth.  This is something we need to provide our students.  We need to let them struggle in order for them to grow.  All too often they struggle and we save them.  We also need to set up an environment that fosters growth.