Every year my school runs what’s known as Explore More Day. In the simplest term it’s Career Day for elementary students. Students travel to six different classes all throughout the school’s property (yes, property–all fields, benches, and black tops are included) where they participate with students from grades varying from first through fifth grade.
This is one of my favorite school days of the year because it is entirely hands-on learning for the students. Everything they see and everything they do is hands-on learning. They create, develop, and challenge themselves. And they love it. AND they are engaged. Below is a list of just some of the opportunities kids had during the day:
- Feats of Engineering
- World of Reptiles
- Mr. Freeze (science experiments)
- Field Hockey & Lacrosse
- Woodworking
- Pizza Pizzazz
- Math Magic
- CPR, ER (and they could make their own abrasions)
- Acting in the Movies
- Balloon Animals
- Karate
- Craft making
- Cake Decorating (with fondant)
- Bones and the Human Body
- LEGO Racing
- K-9 Dogs (working dogs)
- Horse Trainer
- Bottle Rockets
- and the list goes on
This whole day is undertaken by our PTA and it is absolutely unbelievable because our school is filled by almost another 200 volunteers, parents, and workers. Schedules, lunches, and routines are thrown out the window–but every year it comes together. It’s a complete community effort by everyone involved.
For me though, the most important aspect of the entire day is that kids are engaged and learning. I tend to write about student engagement, but for school to be successful it needs to happen. It needs to happen through the way we teach and they way we present material to students. Real-world education is kind of an important part of learning too, and I think that many times days like these are just kind of disregarded. Yet the reality is that kids remember these days almost more than most of our teaching days. This idea really runs into the pedagogy of how we teach these days. Are we looking for new ways to teach kids? Or are we giving them the same thing we’ve done for the past twenty years because it is convenient? These are honest questions that we need to be asking ourselves especially when we see how students react during days like this (or other times when something new is introduced in class). Look, we can agree to disagree on this topic (I just happen to think I’m right).
The day of Explore More can be a complete daze because of everything that is happening but if I’m a 10 year-old kid that gets to pet an alligator or learn a new skill that I wouldn’t be afforded to otherwise, I’m thinking it’s a pretty good day. I don’t care what grown-ups and teachers are thinking because I’m engaged and actively participating in something I want to learn more about THIS IS AWESOME!
