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BNU POSTGRADUATE STUDY VISIT TO THE HOME OF 'LIFEWIDE EDUCATION' SUNDAY JULY 1ST 2018
This page contains resources to support a study visit to the home of 'Lifewide Education' by a group of postgraduate students from the Education Faculty of Beijing Normal University.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME
10.30 Introduction to the work of Lifewide Education & Creative Academic 
11.00 Seminar 1 Lifelong/lifewide learning and education: ecology of learning, creativity and practice
12.30 Buffet lunch
13.15 Seminar 2 Sustaining learning and the world: Imaginative Ecological Education & Walking Curriculum
14.00 Practical exercise – Walking Curriculum if weather permits
15.00 – Student presentations (5 mins each)  What did you discover through your walking curriculum?
15.45-16.00pm Refreshments
16.00 General discussions of ideas, principles and practical experience and relevance to education in China
16.30 Finish 
WALKING CURRICULUM / LEARNING ECOLOGY EXERCISE
Discovering professional values and attitudes through interactions with the natural world (about 60mins) my illustration on right
 
The garden has three different spaces – cultivated garden with a small lake, natural woodland and an uncultivated field or meadow. The purpose of the task is to encourage you to use your imagination to make physical, emotional and intellectual connections and relationships with the natural world. 

1 In pairs, walk around the garden, woods and field using all your senses, imagination and feelings (actively engaging head and heart with the environment you are experiencing) and discuss what you are experiencing

2 Working by yourself, search for and find something in the garden/woods/field that inspires you to imagine values/attitudes/behaviours you associate with being a good teacher/educator (using imagination & forming a meaningful relationship with your environment)

3 Reflect on what you have seen and felt and in your native language create a short poem that draws on the metaphor(s) you have recognised 

4 Using a mobile phone camera
  1. Photograph the natural feature you are using as a metaphor for certain professional values/attitudes/behaviours
  2. Make a 1 minute movie that shows the natural feature and explains in English why you associate certain professional values/attitudes/ behaviours with it.

5 Share what you have discovered  with other members of the group.

​Afterwards, in a group discuss, how this experience might be related to the learning ecology framework that was discussed in the seminar.

Notes: 

1 & 2 encourage you to walk with purpose, curiosity and wonder within the natural world and to be aware of what you are seeing and feeling. You are using nature to inspire your imagination and creating metaphors that hold meaning for you from what you see and feel

 3 & 4 aim to engage your personal creativity and attempt to engage you more deeply in forming relationships with this environment (this place) and with your physical, cognitive, imaginative and emotional self, by involving you in making cultural artefacts (poem, photo and movie) through which you create deeper personal meaning
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5 & 6 enable you to share your creative artefacts and meaning making
You can view the films I have made of my garden in my Garden Notes here
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Students' responses to this example of a walking curriculum & relating to nature exercise are shown below. All were able to use the features they observed as metaphors to draw significant meanings that are relevant to being a good teacher / educator. They also seemed to have a lot of fun while they were learning.
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RESOURCES
SEMINAR 1 POWERPOINT SLIDES
seminar_1__talk_.ppt
File Size: 33695 kb
File Type: ppt
Download File

Exploring learning ecologies
exploring_learning_ecologies.pdf
File Size: 842 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

SEMINAR 2 POWERPOINT SLIDES
seminar_2.pptx
File Size: 10953 kb
File Type: pptx
Download File

Lifewide Magazine (reading to support sutsainability topic)
lifewide_magazine_20.pdf
File Size: 11279 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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