By Clay Kaufman
When my middle child was in 4th grade, we lived in the Washington DC area, and the “big” field trip for 4th graders was to the Trash and Recycling Center in the suburbs. I had the day off from the private school where I was head of school, and helped chaperone the group of 30 public school 4th graders. What a perfect trip for 4th graders! We spent time observing trash and recycling materials being pushed around by giant machines, and watched as the materials were sorted by machine and loudly dumped into separate bins. Immersed in the moment, the students had so many questions. They asked what happens to the materials that are burned, and the guide explained that the Center has a staff chemist, and they add certain chemicals to the mix which interact with the toxic materials to neutralize them and create just plain dirt. Two aspects of the trip fascinated me: that the recycling center had a staff chemist, and that the experiential learning opportunity–witnessing the process in person while learning about it–engendered the students’ rapt attention.
The field trip reminded me of the importance of experiential learning in our children’s lives. I have found that when students participate directly in their learning, they are more inspired and the learning sticks. I often think of the many years my children studied foreign language in school, 40 minutes a day, compared to a friend who lived abroad for six months and was fluent in the language by the time she returned. Living abroad is the ultimate in experiential learning, of course, but there are many other ways to help students learn by doing.
Engaging with people who have lived through history is a great example. As a school leader, I often brought in guest speakers to speak with my students. A former student of mine became a trapeze artist in the circus, and came to speak with my school’s 4th and 5th graders, showing them all her tools, including the carabiners she used to secure her safety ropes, and letting them try securing all the clasps. Most of them didn’t realize how much time trapeze artists devote to safety checks. With older students, I invited three Vietnam veterans–a nurse, an infantry soldier and a pilot–who shared their personal experiences. The helicopter pilot even brought his control stick (the “cyclic control”) from the helicopter he flew, and explained how he rescued soldiers under fire. And many of my students’ grandparents came to speak about their experiences in the Great Depression, WWII or other defining eras in history. As I heard their stories, I realized how much I wish I had asked my grandparents more questions about their lives and my family. As a child, I just didn’t know what to ask. But as parents, we can encourage these kinds of conversations between grandparents and grandchildren.
Experiential learning can also mean anything from a nature hike, where children can identify species of trees and plants, to visiting a National Park or a museum. Many museums have hands-on exhibits and activities now, and encourage children to interact with what they are seeing. On one of my favorite trips, our teachers took a group of students to the American History Museum in DC where they met with a preservation expert who was working on the original Kermit the Frog as well as Thomas Jefferson’s personal Bible, which he created from scratch by cutting out his favorite verses. She showed the students the tools she used and how she took precautions to make sure items were not damaged. And a wonderful science teacher organized annual Earth Day activities in which students worked with local naturalists to pull invasive weeds from a nearby park and helped refurbish local trails with expert guidance. Children love being able to make a difference in the world and the students quickly became experts at distinguishing between native and invasive plants.
Even at a very young age, children benefit from experiential learning. On the simplest level, I remember taking my very young daughter with me to the grocery store. The trip took longer than if I had gone alone, but she loved identifying every piece of fruit in the produce aisle! In fact, young children always learn by doing, whether “helping” to rake the yard, plant the garden, shovel the snow or cook the dinner.
One of great attributes of children is the wonder and awe with which they approach knowledge. Whether it’s helping cook a meal at home, building a fire in the fireplace (whether it works the first time or not) or watching recycling and trash being pushed, pulled, sorted and piled, in-person experiences are memorable. I still remember the time my father took us to the Audubon Society for an evening event that entailed waiting for a local species of bird to engage in a dance to attract a mate. I remember waiting for almost two hours, hidden in the bushes with about twenty other people and a guide. My brothers and I could hardly contain our exasperation at sitting in the woods for hours, blaming my father for this crazy waste of an evening. Then suddenly, the bird appeared in the clearing out of nowhere, carried out her elaborate dance, and attracted her mate. It was worth the wait, and we remembered it forever, though being around ages 9-12 we could hardly forgive our father for being right!
Clay Kaufman, a longtime educator and school leader, is founder and Head of School at The Cedar School, a high school for students with language-based learning differences, such as dyslexia, here in Greenwich.
