WEBVTT 00:00:00.506 --> 00:00:11.626 [Music] 00:00:13.086 --> 00:00:13.936 Lindie Roden, Second Grade Teacher: At Normal Park, 00:00:13.936 --> 00:00:18.596 we use learning expeditions to bring abstract ideas from the classroom 00:00:18.756 --> 00:00:22.016 and to make them more concrete and meaningful to the students 00:00:22.056 --> 00:00:24.776 through our museum visits and learning expeditions. 00:00:25.106 --> 00:00:29.196 All of our learning expeditions, I see it come together for the kids 00:00:29.276 --> 00:00:33.576 when they see the actual animal doing what we talked about in class or they see the place 00:00:33.686 --> 00:00:38.146 that was talked about in a book, you just see a light come on in their eyes, 00:00:38.146 --> 00:00:39.996 and they really are getting the content. 00:00:40.156 --> 00:00:44.076 Liz Smith, Third Grade Teacher: I think for third graders, one of the most abstract 00:00:44.076 --> 00:00:50.556 and hard to understand concepts is government and economics, because it's totally new for them. 00:00:50.846 --> 00:00:53.976 They haven't really experienced any of those things before. 00:00:53.976 --> 00:00:58.396 We go to the Chattanooga Regional History Museum and they are able to make moon pies, 00:00:58.616 --> 00:01:01.956 which are native to Chattanooga, so they are really excited 00:01:01.956 --> 00:01:05.866 about actually getting those hands-on-they get to make the moon pies and eat them. 00:01:06.256 --> 00:01:11.176 But we set it up so that there are two groups: one is focused on individualized production 00:01:11.596 --> 00:01:13.866 and one is focused on specialized production. 00:01:14.276 --> 00:01:18.446 And so they get to experience the differences between an assembly line production 00:01:18.496 --> 00:01:21.906 and then making everything step-by-step themselves. 00:01:22.046 --> 00:01:25.626 And then we talk about the differences and how it felt and who was able 00:01:25.626 --> 00:01:28.406 to produce more quality moon pies, 00:01:28.776 --> 00:01:34.026 and they get a better understanding of what production is and how it affects their lives. 00:01:34.056 --> 00:01:34.836 Robin Cayce, Fifth Grade Teacher: I think, too, 00:01:34.836 --> 00:01:37.616 they transfer that knowledge because in fifth grade, 00:01:37.616 --> 00:01:40.866 when we were learning about the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, 00:01:41.256 --> 00:01:46.486 we came across assembly line in the textbook-we were reading a chapter about Henry Ford 00:01:46.836 --> 00:01:51.696 and automobiles, and they immediately went back to that moon pie experience and said, "Oh, gosh, 00:01:51.696 --> 00:01:53.676 we know exactly how an assembly line works." 00:01:53.806 --> 00:01:58.156 Lindie Roden: This year, we also had the chance to watch the octopus camouflage 00:01:58.726 --> 00:02:02.966 and it changed colors over and over again and the texture of its skin changed 00:02:03.076 --> 00:02:07.736 and a second grader could not-well, they might be able to, 00:02:07.736 --> 00:02:10.955 but they get a better understanding of what that means to camouflage 00:02:10.955 --> 00:02:14.586 and how it really happens in nature by really watching it. 00:02:14.586 --> 00:02:19.986 And another really meaningful learning expedition is when we do our dinosaur unit, 00:02:19.986 --> 00:02:23.856 and we talk to the kids about fossils and how they do help us learn 00:02:23.856 --> 00:02:27.686 about what was here thousands and millions of years ago 00:02:27.686 --> 00:02:31.466 and we identify crinoids and brachiopods. 00:02:31.466 --> 00:02:37.736 And we actually take the children to an area of town where the highway has been cut 00:02:38.036 --> 00:02:43.496 into the side of a mountain, and the kids really find those fossils and they are so excited 00:02:43.536 --> 00:02:46.846 to know that this really is real, it's not just in a book, 00:02:47.166 --> 00:02:50.716 they can really go investigate and learn about the past. 00:02:50.716 --> 00:02:53.716 Liz Smith: I think for third grade, one of the science standards that we talked 00:02:53.716 --> 00:02:58.746 about this nine weeks were animal adaptations and so we were able to visit the zoo 00:02:58.746 --> 00:03:03.796 and the aquarium and have museum educators bring out specific examples 00:03:03.976 --> 00:03:06.526 like the cane toad-that was one of their favorite ones. 00:03:06.796 --> 00:03:11.646 And we discussed poison sacs that they probably haven't encountered in animals here 00:03:12.016 --> 00:03:15.776 in the United States, and they were able to see the toad and ask questions 00:03:15.856 --> 00:03:21.376 to the museum educator and really get more concrete examples in their heads 00:03:21.376 --> 00:03:25.236 of how those adaptations work in animals they haven't seen before. 00:03:25.856 --> 00:03:27.586 Brenda Cothran, Kindergarten Teacher: Just walking the hallway today 00:03:27.586 --> 00:03:35.406 and I read an understanding a child said in her exhibit statement, that seeds fall to the ground 00:03:35.406 --> 00:03:41.056 and sometimes if the snow covers them then that seed may not be able to grow into a plant, 00:03:41.706 --> 00:03:48.816 and this particular child participated in a play that we wrote-we based it on Eric Carle's book, 00:03:48.816 --> 00:03:52.156 The Tiny Seed, and she participated as a snowflake. 00:03:52.536 --> 00:03:58.166 And so it helped me to see that she understood that if the snow covers the seeds 00:03:58.166 --> 00:04:01.846 and they don't actually continue to blow on and on in that cycle, 00:04:02.086 --> 00:04:04.566 then they may not be able to grow into a plant. 00:04:04.566 --> 00:04:08.556 So that-for me to see that statement was like, "Yeah," you know, 00:04:08.556 --> 00:04:11.926 just her being able to participate in that part in the play, 00:04:11.926 --> 00:04:15.276 I think it helped her to really click and know that, wow, 00:04:15.456 --> 00:04:18.166 seeds don't always make it into a plant. 00:04:18.166 --> 00:04:22.626 Robin Cayce: When we go to the Citizen Cemetery during our Civil War Module, 00:04:23.036 --> 00:04:26.306 it's always kind of a neat experience as a teacher, 00:04:26.306 --> 00:04:33.556 because when we have talked about the effects of war on loss of life, that's one thing, 00:04:33.556 --> 00:04:40.996 but when they actually walk around and read of children who died and babies and fathers 00:04:40.996 --> 00:04:46.756 and all the epitaphs that they get to study and kind of write down, it really, 00:04:46.756 --> 00:04:51.296 the children kind of realized, "Oh, my gosh, war caused death, 00:04:51.946 --> 00:04:55.576 and it had an impact on human life," and I really think that's one trip 00:04:56.076 --> 00:05:01.076 that I really very intimately realized the children are grasping that the effects 00:05:01.076 --> 00:05:04.606 of war are very physical sometimes. 00:05:05.236 --> 00:05:09.406 Lindie Roden: It's so important to make those connections between the abstract learning 00:05:09.406 --> 00:05:14.196 and the concrete real experiences, because it makes the learning lifelong. 00:05:14.536 --> 00:05:17.796 They are experiences that these children will not forget. 00:05:18.166 --> 00:05:21.976 They don't forget, as we have seen, they carried them from grade to grade. 00:05:22.336 --> 00:05:25.296 Liz Smith: It's theirs; they can do it not just at school. 00:05:25.536 --> 00:05:30.196 That's one of the coolest things about when we study simple machines, they study them at school, 00:05:30.196 --> 00:05:33.676 we have talked about simple machines that they see in the classroom, 00:05:33.936 --> 00:05:37.766 and in one of the last learning expeditions we go to the Creative Discovery Museum 00:05:38.116 --> 00:05:41.956 and go to the River Play exhibit and they are responsible for pointing 00:05:41.956 --> 00:05:43.856 out different simple machines that they see. 00:05:43.856 --> 00:05:46.616 And they get so excited and, you know, point all the time, 00:05:46.616 --> 00:05:48.816 "I can see that pulley, it's right there." 00:05:48.886 --> 00:05:52.666 They can do it by themselves, not just with my help; it's theirs. 00:05:53.156 --> 00:05:57.746 Robin Cayce: Well I think we are empowering students, too, by taking something very abstract 00:05:57.746 --> 00:06:03.086 and making it concrete, we are giving them- we are helping them form background knowledge 00:06:03.086 --> 00:06:07.336 that will take them on into their middle school and high school years and even adult life. 00:06:07.926 --> 00:06:13.046 [Music]