The Citizen Schools Catalyst program includes teacher professional development, curriculum units, in-class diverse career mentors, and student assessments based on hands-on projects for blended learning to give educators the most flexibility in synchronous and asynchronous instruction. Each Catalyst unit is developed in partnership with classroom educators through a rigorous field testing process. This inspiring group of teachers that partners with us to refine our projects is called our Innovation Cohort. For the 2020–2021 academic year, we worked with teachers in CA, MA, NC, NY, OH, and TX to field test our new Sound project in the classroom. Sylvia Beckham, a middle-school teacher at Seventy-First Classical Middle School in North Carolina, was one of those teachers.

The Sound unit is the first Catalyst project designed with in-person AND virtual learning in mind, given the impacts of COVID-19. The unit can be executed either in a school setting or with materials students have at home. Students learn to use tools to understand which materials and designs best eliminate ambient noise from the environment and use this data to propose a modified workspace that works for them. Students then create final presentations with their technical drawings, accurately describing concepts related to sound, and advocate for their solutions to bring their workspace vision to reality. Sylvia's class used video and audio podcasting as the medium for delivering their final presentations. 

Upon completing the unit, we asked Sylvia: What was your favorite activity, which you completed as part of the Catalyst program?

“Without a doubt, it was listening to the final Sound podcasts. My students were learning remotely during the Sound project. Each student wrote their own Sound podcast and had classmates edit their script. I had read their final drafts; however, hearing my students deliver the final draft in a podcast was amazing. My goal this year was to empower my students, not just to engage them. I found the Catalyst program gave my students the platform to pursue a podcast project that developed their mind muscles by envisioning, innovating, and creating.”

Sylvia has been an invaluable asset to the Innovation Cohort and advancing STEM learning. She provided some practical tips for teachers who are looking to bring experiential learning into the classroom.

1. Center The Student As Teacher

First and foremost, approach experiential learning through a supporting, listening, hands-off role, allowing students to take the lead on how they learn. Centering students through individualized approaches rather than standardized ones increases active engagement and learning retention. This means allowing students to decide how they learn best, to make mistakes, and ensuring that they feel comfortable coming to you for guidance when specifically when they run into issues.

2. Find Existing Models & Frameworks To Make Your Own

Individualized learning is scalable. Find approaches and tools (like Catalyst) to use as models. The most effective resources are agile, giving teachers and students flexibility. Sylvia explained that her students were very successful when using educational road maps provided as part of the Catalyst program. There are also other resources for experiential learning including, but not limited to:

1. INSTRUCTABLES, a community for people who like to make things. They make it easy to learn how to make anything, one step at a time.

2. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CLASSROOM RESOURCES, bring National Geographic to your classroom through lesson plans, maps, and reference resources.

3. MAKER ED, information meant to provide educators and facilitators with ideas for short-term activities and long-term projects, curriculum samples, examples of facilitation methods and practices, and the pedagogies and values aligned with making.

For more resources, check out the Citizen Schools Makers + Mentors Network.

3. Find Out What Your Students Know First

Deeper learning is accomplished through relevance, helping students apply what they learn to their lives and futures. To create an exploratory, embodied, and embedded learning experience, you must first understand what is relevant and relatable to your students.

When Sylvia started the Sound unit, she didn't immediately realize that her classroom wasn't familiar with podcasts. She explained that once she shared some podcasts with her class, the students were much more engaged with the unit. Sylvia suggested incorporating podcasts early into a lesson if you find your students don't have much exposure to this type of content. Even though the students were not initially familiar with podcasts, introducing them to something new and relatable was exciting.  

4. Actively Find Out What Your Classroom Volunteers And Students Have In Common

Volunteer career mentors from communities ground student learning in real-world problems and challenges while also providing a solid foundation for developing actionable solutions. Knowing how your classroom volunteers and students can connect early on will help you build rapport to foster relationship-building quickly.

When Sylvia discovered that her classroom volunteer was a music major, she recognized a possible connection with one student who played the guitar and other students who expressed an interest in music. Try asking: What courses or degrees have your classroom volunteer completed? What types of hobbies do they have? How does that connect to the personal interests of each of your students?

5. Beware Of The Limitations Of Your Tools

While using the Canva web recorder, Sylvia discovered that you could not download the files students created and submitted using the platform. Though web recording is a great tool, it's helpful to know the limits of each resource you are using. 

Whether you are implementing the Catalyst program in your classroom or another hands-on approach to experiential learning, Sylvia's advice will be helpful in successfully teaching within any new framework. If you'd like to learn more about the teacher professional development, STEM industry mentors, and curricula units available through the Catalyst program, visit our website or contact us at annayu@citizenschools.org.