The short version is; it's the tight integration of community service and authentic learning. That's the short version.
The longer version is that; Service-Learning is a flexible toolbox of evidence-based Best Practices for classroom Teachers and Non-Profits/NGO's working with all range of Students (Primary, Secondary, and Higher Education). It is a means to allow Students to see the connections between classroom content - and the real world challenges of their local or global communities. It is an engine for educational innovation. And perhaps most importantly - it is a way to bring fun and amazement back into the learning process!
Mythic Minds creator, Dustin Eirdosh, served as the Service-Learning & Youth Advocacy coordinator for School Union 98 in the greater Mt. Desert Island Region of Maine, USA - for approximately half a decade. Here, under a grant-funded initiative from The KIDS Consortium for Service-Learning; Eirdosh oversaw and fostered a huge diversity of K-12 Service-Learning Projects. These projects ranged from the Biology Classroom to the World History Courses; working with NGO's as diverse as Healthy Acadia and the Astronomy Institute of Maine.
The common thread among all of these projects was the KIDS Consortium Model for Service-Learning:
- Academic Integrity – Each project has clearly defined learning objectives that relate to state learning standards and local curricula.
- Apprentice Citizenship – Students learn about civic engagement through partnerships with active community members working on local needs.
- Student Ownership – Students share in decision-making with adults, and adults share in learning with student – acting as partners and coaches rather than experts.
Today, developing the Mythic Minds curriculum at the University of Toliara; Eirdosh and colleagues are exploring the connections between the KIDS Model - and emerging models of Best Practices coming from an evolutionary understanding of the Human Brain and social organization.
No comments:
Post a Comment