Human-Centered Schools

A blog highlighting human-centered educational design, theory and practices. Curated by David Loitz (Adventures in Learning)

[humanscaleschools]

The Arthur Morgan School

"Founded in 1962, Arthur Morgan School (AMS) is a progressive boarding and day school for girls and boys in grades 7, 8 & 9. AMS is located on 100 acres of farm and wilderness in the Celo Community, about an hour north of Asheville, North Carolina."

Mission

"The mission of Arthur Morgan School is to provide a safe and loving environment where students in grades 7, 8, and 9 learn to question and evaluate, think creatively and work independently and cooperatively, while sharing in a community that honors simplicity, respect, responsibility and thoughtful consideration."

Vision

"The vision of Arthur Morgan School is to empower our students to make courageous choices that may create global change by developing awareness of our impact on social and ecological life."

Farm and Garden

"The philosophy of simple living, a large part of our curriculum, includes working with nature and cultivating an appreciation for the natural world. Our sustainable agriculture program connects students to the natural world in a direct way. In the fall students are involved in harvesting and storing vegetables. In the spring, they help with planting the garden crop which the next year’s students will harvest in the fall. "

Community Life

"Arthur Morgan School is a community, and in many fundamental ways the lives of everyone here — students and staff — are shared. Not only do we learn together, we cook, clean, hike, travel, build, plant and harvest together. Each year it takes time for the group to develop its sense of unity and direction. AMS strives to be a safe place for people to express their feelings. The group spirit that results from our endeavors is essential to the success of our community."

Unique Features Consensus and All School Meeting

"Arthur Morgan School is a staff-run school, meaning that there is no hierarchy amongst staff and that all of our decisions are made by consensus. Our weekly All School Meeting operates on a consensus model and serves as a forum for student voices to be heard. Students set the agenda, clerk the meetings, speak for themselves, are asked to be responsible for their own actions, and are encouraged to be honest with themselves and the community about the issues at hand. Our process offers an opportunity for students to make real and relevant decisions about the functioning of our community."

Outdoor Program

"While work on the land and walks in the woods are a part of our daily living, students also take three extended outdoor trips each year that prove to be highly valuable learning experiences. In preparation for these trips, we provide instruction on backpacking, safety in the wilderness, strategic food and gear packing and “Leave No Trace” camping ethics."

18-day Research and Service Learning Trips

"During February and March, the AMS program goes on the road, breaking into three different field trip groups. Each field trip has an educational theme, and students learn about the theme as their in-depth study class in the academic unit leading up to departure. Themes from past trips include: Coastal Ecology, Hunger and Homelessness, Environmental Impact of Energy Sources, Civil Rights and Blues Music, Hurricane Katrina Relief, Justice and the Prison System, and Immigration and Border Issues."

Academics

Educational Philosophy

"At AMS, we encourage a climate of intellectual curiosity inside and out of the classroom, encouraging students to see connections between their studies and the world around them. Our active and experiential approach to learning teaches self-motivated curiosity and discipline, laying the foundations for a life of inquiry and creative problem solving. Hands-on academic classes allow students to explore how the material they are learning relates to the world. Small classes (6-10 students) enable teachers to focus on individual needs and allow for frequent class discussion and debate."

[ailedubooks]

Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom by Sylvia Libow Martinez (Author), Gary S. Stager

This is a great resource for any teacher who wants to create a “maker space” in their classroom or begin to incorporate Maker Space learning into your curriculum. 

I have taken a workshop with Gary Stager and know him online (find him on twitter here. His work is really great.

here is a summery:

Join the maker movement! There’s a technological and creative revolution underway. Amazing new tools, materials and skills turn us all into makers. Using technology to make, repair or customize the things we need brings engineering, design and computer science to the masses. Fortunately for educators, this maker movement overlaps with the natural inclinations of children and the power of learning by doing. The active learner is at the center of the learning process, amplifying the best traditions of progressive education. This book helps educators bring the exciting opportunities of the maker movement to every classroom.

Also here is a great article by the author

Top ten ways to start with “maker education”

-Adventures in Learning

[aredotna]

What architects have learned from child’s play in collaborative design in Colombia. Read more.

[archicongos]

Handmade School / Anna Heringer & Eike Roswag

[humanscaleschools]

wow

[humanscaleschools]

(via Playscapes - All the Best Playgrounds are Here) amazing resource for playground designs!

[itscolossal]

New Ridiculously Imaginative Playgrounds from Monstrum Set the Monkey Bars High for Innovation

[crutch4-deactivated20190911]

Any classroom that employs a holistic model of learning will also be a place where teachers grow, and are empowered by the process. That empowerment cannot happen if we refuse to be vulnerable while encouraging students to take risks.

bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom  (via unapologetically-yellow)

[humanscaleschools]

Concept for a school library...cubbies for shoes and soft carpet create a casual and calm environment (Designed by Marta Lilly)

Via (Lilly Loitz Education Design Consulting)

[architectureland]

Arboretum Playground designed  by Taylor Cullity Lethlean in Canberra, Australia. Photography: Gemma Fennell and Brett Boardman

[adventuresinlearning]

Imagining Learning Listening Session at Unboundary.m4v (by Bo Adams)

Five days to provide this experience for more students for more young people. Every 500 dollars raised allows us to travel to one community and give 8-20 young people a chance to have their voice and ideas heard. If you seen the video of the students after the session, you can see their transformation and their own belief in their capacity to positively change education. Click here to donate $5-25 dollars http://bit.ly/15IE8P6 We are now up to about 45 listening sessions requested by communities and young people around the country, but without additional funds we will only be able to do about 10-15 of them.

[imagininglearning]

12 Days to Go (and not very close): Listening to Young People First to Transform Education

Through Imagining Learning, Listening Sessions are arranged across America to ask students how they want to learn and change their education. By providing a forum where students can trust educators with their honest opinions, Imagining Learning has the potential to change education as we know it. Read more from founders and GOOD members David Loitz and Charles Kouns.

[adventuresinlearning]

Check it out, Imagining Learning was choose to be part of their Saturday push for good series!  This is for our young people and the future of our planet. From my heart I ask you to donate today. Every dollar donated will be repaid ten-fold in positive energy. Just remember what it was like to be a young person and how powerful it was or is to be listen to and be asked to engage in a project trying to make the world better! You can bring that experience to young people all over the country! Please donate today!

[incitedcrowdfundingeducation]

Each time teens meet in a Listening Session with Imagining Learning they are transformed into facilitators of change, collaborators with hope. Over three hours they create a vision of what education can be…what they need it to be, and the result is literally a work of art. Learn more here.

Imagining Learning has held 20 Listening Sessions already and have been invited to do another 38 across the country. (See the map above.) But they can’t get there without a little help from believers like you, people who know that young people have important wisdom to share.

Let’s break down what’s possible when a few committed people get together to enact change: 

Each Listening Session costs about $500. Just 20 people giving $25 each can make that happen. 

For the price of a $10 lunch, 50 people can bring the Imagining Learning revolution to a city that’s begging for it. 

If you and two of your friends agreed to donate $20 each and then each found three more people to do the same, that would only need to happen 4 more times to raise over $21,000 for Imagining Learning! 

Activate your crowd to accelerate change. Visit Imagining Learning’s IncitED campaign and join the revolution!

[becomingachangemaker]

How systems change is a topic that has been on my mind for quite some time. Not in these concrete words, more as a feeling that I have gotten when trying to explain some new ideas or new approaches to people I am working with. 

I like change and to look at my work from new perspectives. Especially in the field of education I see a big need to find a new system that is more directed towards people’s passions, needs and dreams. 

So, here is a video about how systems change. I tried to write up a short summary, however, just watch the video, it is 6min and explains it really well. 

The woman talking in the video is Deborah Frieze. And more background information on the system changes and Berkana you can find here. 

[gemcommunist-blog]

Why do they fail? They fail because they are afraid, bored, and confused. They are afraid, above all else, of failing, of disappointing or displeasing the many anxious adults around them, whose limitless hopes and expectations for them hang over their heads like a cloud. They are bored because the things they are given and told to do in school are so trivial, so dull, and make such limited and narrow demands on the wide spectrum of their intelligence, capabilities, and talents. They are confused because most of the torrent of words that pours over them in school makes little or no sense. It often flatly contradicts other things they have been told, and hardly ever has any relation to what they really know—to the rough model of reality that they carry around in their minds.

from How Children Fail - by John Holt (via dr-quandary)

[thisdustmakesthatmud-blog]

I have a holistic view of the educative process. The universe is one … Instead of thinking that you put pieces together that will add up to a whole, I think you have to start with the premise that they are already together and you try to keep them from destroying life by segmenting it, over-organizing and dehumanizing it… The educative process must be organic, and not an assortment of unrelated methods and ideas.

Myles Horton (From - The Long Haul)

[humanscaleschools]

Why High Schoolers Should Be In Charge: Sam Levin at TEDxOxford (by TEDxTalks)

[beautifullearningspaces]

When local authorities wanted to “transform education for the children of Croxteth”, a suburb of Liverpool in England, they turned to Morgan Sindall and amazing architect Martin Shutt to create a “state of the art learning facility” in consultation with teachers, students and community members. When the designs were done they included a semi-circular room that looked tailor made for the work of 4-D Creative. They designed the space “with giant projection and an interactive floor. Next up dame a swirling ceiling feature complete with twinkling fibre optic lights. We also fitted some light globes for an extra wow factor”. Wow is right.