Peace Ed - Experiential Learning
Here's the article:
http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~t656_web/peace/Articles_Spring_2004/Castellana_Elizabeth_Outward_bound.htm
Here's
I am inspired by reading about Kurt Hahn and his efforts through Outward Bound. As Castellana wrote, “Kurt Hahn believed steadfastly that ‘it is the sin of the soul to force young people into opinions - indoctrination is of the devil -- but it is culpable neglect not to impel young people into experiences.’”
I love the idea of Experiential Learning as a peace education tool. This concept builds new understanding of old ideas or concepts, or as in the instance of youth, building understanding of “new” experiences without indoctrinating while increasing the individual’s tools to enable personal development and further understanding in new areas as the need arises.
In the section on Outward Bound and Conflict Transformation, I hear “relationship building” in every concept. The shared experiences as a tool to develop an environment where each party is left somewhat off balance, or as Castellana puts it, “In circumstances that are unfamiliar to all, uncomfortable and difficult for all involved,” gives each person the opportunity to see the opposing party as more human and reinforces the dependency of each on the other when confronted with a situation outside of the current conflict where the solution (or simply to make it through the ordeal/experience) takes both sides to tackle it together. This is reminds me of the concept of “Teambuilding” as encouraged in the business world.
Reading this passage, as well as participating with the exercises Marlo presented to the class on Monday, is helping me develop a need for a group activity, or activities, for the long distance intercultural exchange I want to develop. I am excited about the possibilities of coming up with something more than just a penpal exchange between students. There is merit in just sharing, the storytelling, of the students’ experiences in that exchange, but what if we could develop an activity or goal that “needed” the input of both ends of the conversation. Would that help the experience to become more memorable? I think that it would not only be more memorable, but actually help the students learn more about each other while they are in the process of creating something together. These students wouldn’t be on a ship out to sea or on a trail in the wilderness, but the idea of readjusting the focus of the lesson from learning about each other to learning something new together, will accomplish both.
I would also like to add something I took away from the class with Marlo. Mistakes are perceived individually based on the person’s history and it is not simple for the teacher to just change the rules in one class to up-end and dissolve any negative perceptions of what qualifies as a mistake. But that being said, it is possible to plant those seeds of possibility within the student at any time.
I realize only now that when I required that part of my daughter’s home schooling was to volunteer somewhere, which turned out to be the Farm at the Portland Zoo, that Experiential Learning is the name of the process I was seeking for my daughter.
I find I am becoming daily more “academified” with all the lingo and terms required to bridge the gap between being qualified to talk about these things and actually participating in them.
http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~t656_web/peace/Articles_Spring_2004/Castellana_Elizabeth_Outward_bound.htm
Here's
I am inspired by reading about Kurt Hahn and his efforts through Outward Bound. As Castellana wrote, “Kurt Hahn believed steadfastly that ‘it is the sin of the soul to force young people into opinions - indoctrination is of the devil -- but it is culpable neglect not to impel young people into experiences.’”
I love the idea of Experiential Learning as a peace education tool. This concept builds new understanding of old ideas or concepts, or as in the instance of youth, building understanding of “new” experiences without indoctrinating while increasing the individual’s tools to enable personal development and further understanding in new areas as the need arises.
In the section on Outward Bound and Conflict Transformation, I hear “relationship building” in every concept. The shared experiences as a tool to develop an environment where each party is left somewhat off balance, or as Castellana puts it, “In circumstances that are unfamiliar to all, uncomfortable and difficult for all involved,” gives each person the opportunity to see the opposing party as more human and reinforces the dependency of each on the other when confronted with a situation outside of the current conflict where the solution (or simply to make it through the ordeal/experience) takes both sides to tackle it together. This is reminds me of the concept of “Teambuilding” as encouraged in the business world.
Reading this passage, as well as participating with the exercises Marlo presented to the class on Monday, is helping me develop a need for a group activity, or activities, for the long distance intercultural exchange I want to develop. I am excited about the possibilities of coming up with something more than just a penpal exchange between students. There is merit in just sharing, the storytelling, of the students’ experiences in that exchange, but what if we could develop an activity or goal that “needed” the input of both ends of the conversation. Would that help the experience to become more memorable? I think that it would not only be more memorable, but actually help the students learn more about each other while they are in the process of creating something together. These students wouldn’t be on a ship out to sea or on a trail in the wilderness, but the idea of readjusting the focus of the lesson from learning about each other to learning something new together, will accomplish both.
I would also like to add something I took away from the class with Marlo. Mistakes are perceived individually based on the person’s history and it is not simple for the teacher to just change the rules in one class to up-end and dissolve any negative perceptions of what qualifies as a mistake. But that being said, it is possible to plant those seeds of possibility within the student at any time.
I realize only now that when I required that part of my daughter’s home schooling was to volunteer somewhere, which turned out to be the Farm at the Portland Zoo, that Experiential Learning is the name of the process I was seeking for my daughter.
I find I am becoming daily more “academified” with all the lingo and terms required to bridge the gap between being qualified to talk about these things and actually participating in them.