Non Traditional Learning

Alderwood House believes that there is a need to acquire traditional skills in context: learning can best occur when it is relevant to the child and their life. Study material should spark excitement for learning, emphasize fun found in acquiring new information and skills, and allow for individual expression.

Addressing these needs, the Alderwood House curriculum extends beyond the boundaries of traditional disciplines. In order for the child to receive a significant, relevant and challenging education, the child must be able to reflect on the connections between their life in school, home and the world.

In each of our classrooms, children discover that learning is connected to "real" life, thus establishing a strong basis for future learning and education. To understand this connection, the classroom community of students and teachers work together each afternoon in exploring project-based study.

Projects are child-directed. By this we mean that, as children indicate an interest in a topic, their interest is extended by the teacher, as the teacher asks several questions: What is it like? How does it work? How is it connected to other things? How do we know? What is our responsibility? How is it changing over time? Why is it like this? What are the points of view? Teachers do not provide the answers for children; rather, children and teachers will learn together, researching, hypothesizing and experimenting as they explore the topic.

Projects do not have a set time frame but rather begin with the children's interest, and end when the children decide they are finished. Skilled teachers work to provoke ongoing thought and questioning, which often prolongs an interest. Project-based study is also quite free-flowing: a project on buildings may easily move into studying bridges, which may flow into looking at transportation. While as the children get older, they tend to follow the same projects for a longer period of time, it is still impossible to tell how long one project may last and where it might go. However, teachers do know that projects will inevitably lead to a holistic learning experience, and that they will easily be able to integrate our curriculum learning areas into the project work throughout the school year.

These projects focus on developing inquiry and research skills, working with peers and negotiating differences, expressing individual experiences and appreciating other personal and cultural perspectives.

Through an in-depth, immersed study of each project, education expands beyond the traditional disciplines to include the application of knowledge to real-world issues, developing creative and critical thinking, research, communication, and social and self-management skills. Projects also support traditional disciplines. For example, while studying bridges, children may determine that they need to go on a field trip to Capilano Suspension Bridge. Before the trip, children will come up with questions they will need answered (developing logical thinking, sentence structure, verbal communication, sequencing), write the questions down (writing), determine how to get the answers (research, reading, writing) and then share the information with their peers (reflection, verbal communication, social development). They will also determine how far away the trip is (time and distance), how much money they need to go (currency and addition) and how many drivers will be needed to get there (counting, addition, subtraction and division). Before the trip, they will review brochures and maps (reading) so that they understand where they are going and what they might see there. While on the trip, children will stop to draw the bridge (pre-writing; visual recognition and perception skills) and when they return to school, spend time with the teacher writing about the bridge (writing skills). Finally, children will then begin to build bridges with different materials in the classroom (gravity, balance, weight, material exploration, social skills, gross and fine motor skills). This project could continue on in various ways, depending on the children's interests. For more examples of project-based study, please visit our blog at www.reggiovancouver.com.