Video Podcast: The Edible School Yard & A Night in the Global Village

The Edible School Yard

In this podcast a group of 6th graders of Martin Luther King Junior Middle School plant, harvest and eat from the garden they maintain. The founder of this project is Alice Waters. The garden serves as the center of teaching. Students learn social studies, math, science and life skills, while also including basic ecology. This enables the students to better understand environmental concerns and the value of hard work.

A Night in the Global Village

This podcast informs us of the Global Village, which is a re-creation of communities of under developed countries. Students from Denver, Colorado visit Perryville, Arkansas, where the Global Village is located. At the village student experience first hand survival in substandard living conditions. Students are split up in groups which experience re-created living conditions in Guatemala, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Urban, Appalachian and Refugee camps. All but one camp the Refugee camp is allowed one resource, like water, food, wood etc and a bucket of other usable resources. The camps must work together in order to have a successful community.

As an educator both of the above podcast can be very useful in the classroom. These cast relate to students, because they see other students involved. This allows them to understand that learning is all around you, as illustrated in the podcast. These videos were from Edutopia, a great learning resource.

So many students are under the misconception that learning is limited to a textbook. In my opinion that is the problem with the students of today. Students should be able to explore and learn, that's what makes learning FUN!!