2.2. Education project

School project:

For me one key element during experimenting is asking questions. Therefore I collected several questions which might be helpful to ask myself during going through all the material/methods and deciding what might be appropriate. Then I set a clear goal what the pupils should have learned in the end.

With almost no teaching experience I was curious to learn how to prepare material the pupils can work with. During the Active Experimentation phase I experimented with collecting different materials and methods from different sources to put them together and mix an individual learning collection, tailored to the needs of the pupils. Looking for all kinds of material, like normal texts (scientific, reports, experiences), school material, videos, pictures, games, discussions and experiments, I decided to save all of them and then choose a small collection of what I think could be appropriate. The next step of my experimentation phase was to set up a nice school program. My experimentation with the program was limited by some fixed events (school breaks, visit of electric car, etc.). I arranged and rearranged the content but knew that I needed to keep everything very flexible. Although I had a program in the end, I deleted all the details, because I thought it might be good to ask the pupils what they want to learn and do and then adapt the program.

Student Workshop:

Because of a lack in time (at the same I worked time intensively at the earth-sheltered greenhouse) I had not much time to collect material and to experiment with it. Nevertheless I asked myself some questions which should have helped me to experiment with a nice program (view program here). The program setting required a lot of coordination with many other people (find attached my To do list). Declan, the man I assisted, brought in some additional ideas and together we created a flexible program. Over time we changed the program and adapted it to the current conditions.

In this document I explain in more detail the 'Active Experimentation' stage for both, the school project and the student workshop.

In the school our experience was completely different than we expected because we worked with socially very deprived pupils. The material I prepared was way too high in standard and so we improved the program spontaneously. We started by letting the pupils share their personal needs and wishes, which we felt was a really high priority. I experienced the first time how urgent it is to transform our current school system. After a nice talk, we introduced them to the WAVE project, but as one could imagine they were not really motivated. To improve the bad mood we watched a video showing birds who died because of eating plastic waste. The video was so touching for them and their interest about the topic seemed to be awakened. The next highlight was a long creative group work where everybody produced posters to present it the next day. Then they wrote their environmental commitment, presented the posters to the class and were allowed to do a short spin with the Tesla (electric car). To read more about my Concrete Experience please view this document.

What did I un/learn from the school project ?

• Preparation of material needs to be adapted on the standards of the pupil

• It was good to make clear in the beginning that we do not want something bad for them

• Perfect preparation would not bring us other results than we achieved (don't overprepare!)

• Good way: Big repertoire with knowledge & methods (rolegames, stories, groupwork, talking sticks (onion ring), etc. )

• What capacities do pupil have? How to integrate them in one lesson?

• Personal relationship on same level is very important

• Let the pupil do by themselves is a great learn method (groupwork, presentations) and even videos have shown the wanted effect → BUT: Some pupil use the possibility to do nothing and divert others from their effective work (So observe the working climate and go from desk to desk and ask specific questions that encourage them)

What did I un/learn from the student workshop?

• Because I was the same age like the students I was from the beginning like a friend (very good)

• Fascinating for me how fast people can change

• There does not need to be too much content as long as the location is interesting! Only explain location

• I need to improve my explaining skills in permaculture → show people the connecting web

• Link theory with practical input → how do they learn to think in a permaculture way?

• The theoretical input with design methods was probably to abstract for them