Of the many things I’m thankful for…

I’ve been meaning to include in the blog, topics about food and human interaction that are a degree removed from being directly related; a learning environment as an example of human interaction is what I choose now.

Earlier this year, I heard about a workshop that explored human migration through art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; I was interested because I have been using art to inform my interest in food and human interaction, independently and through the course I have been teaching on the subject. What was special about this workshop was its emphasis on global human migration. At the lunch table, completely by chance, I met an educator from The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC and we kept in touch.

Many months later, when I started work at school in DC, I learned that we were going to visit an art exhibition, The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement at the Phillips. For a project design, I considered the biology of stress inherent to human migration and how the art exhibition could inform.

National Geographic’s mission statement says:

“We teach kids about the world and how it works, empowering them to succeed and to make it a better place”.

Drawing from national standards of education, and relying on the expertise of developmental psychologists, researchers and a network of educators, National Geographic has laid out a Learning Framework to inform their work and to help develop in K-12 students what they term as the Mindset of an Explorer. The framework lists three dimensions and defines three characteristics for each and describes how each characteristic can be assessed:

1. Attitudes:

• Curiosity
• Responsibility
• Empowerment
  

2. Skills:

• Observation
• Communication
• Collaboration
  

3. Knowledge:

• Human Journey
• Changing Planet
• Wildlife
  

I submitted my project about the biology of stress in human migration to National Geographic through their educator program. The short description of the project reads:

The biology of stress was explored within the context of global human migration. The focus was to experience the individual story of a migrant as well as the global scale of migration through research data, diverse media in an art exhibition, in-person speeches by refugees, documentaries about immigrant students; and then, to let students choose an example they connect with and proceed to research relying on primary literature and material evidence from biology, humanities and the arts.¹

The project was well-received.

And thanks to the educator I had met earlier, The Phillips Collection agreed as well through a blog post on their website, "The Warmth of Other Suns: In The Classroom".

In reflecting on this experience, I think of the opportunity provided by a progressive school, a powerful art exhibition, the resources at National Geographic and of the many questions that arise:

• How do you improve integration of the arts, humanities and sciences to inform a learning environment?
• How do you add another layer to this integration by incorporating local experiences?
• How would this project foster thought about questions of global importance?
• How can a project environment effectively cater to different learning styles and socio-emotional characteristics?
• How is growth measured for student and faculty?
  

Most of all, in thinking of how these questions feel like within the realities of a regular school day and term, I’m reminded of my mentor here in school in DC, his words and his manner of speaking. For that especially, I'm thankful.

Reference:

1. Stress and Human Migration by Balakrishnan Selvakumar; National Geographic Educator Capstone Project, November 2019