The Classroom Beyond: Informal Education Podcast Graham Charles

For an outdoor educator, what is the value of an authentic experience? How can you guide your learners to affective engagement -- an attitudinal, emotional connection with the material you're sharing?

That's the topic I discuss today with Lacie Ownbey, educator at the Indianapolis Zoo. She shares her adventures with dolphins, seals, and sharks to get learners excited -- and that way, they learn more.

 
The jargon of the week, in fact, is affective engagement -- check out the blog post here!

Drop by the Web site for more connections and ideas about informal education -- or to get in touch!https://www.theclassroombeyond.com/podcasts/lacie-ownbey

On this week’s podcast episode, I have a conversation with two Explainer-Facilitators from the Exploratorium, San Francisco’s storied palace of science, art, and perception. Gwen Payne and Gianna Calamar both participate in the Exploratorium’s diversity and inclusion efforts, and we talk a lot today about how including everyone improves the visitor experience and, of course, increases learning.
Get in Touch! I would love to hear from you! Feel free to drop by the Web site and drop me a message.

Explainer-Facilitator Gianna Canamar with Exploratorium visitors
©The Exploratorium; used by permission.

 

On this week’s podcast, I talk with Elise McFarland, an Interpretation and Education Manager for the California State Park system. In her far-ranging job, she’s responsible for several parks’ cultural resources and, of course, many levels and modes of interpretation. 
Like many informal educators – especially outdoor educators in regional parks – Elise calls herself an interpreter. Since Freeman Tilden published Interpreting Our Heritage in 1957, the idea of interpretation as a cultural activity has spread throughout the community of naturalists and museum educators and spawned organizations like the National Association for Interpretation. On the blog this week, I describe some of this history and current state of the term: Thematic Interpretation as an Art and a Science

On this week’s podcast, I talk with science educator Brittany Sabol. She’s the training director at Environmental Volunteers, an organization that turns everyday folks into extraordinary informal educators who go into classrooms to provide science enrichments.
On the blog, I have a post about volunteer training, often a big part of informal education sites.
For my ever-growing jargon list, I search for a good definition for a term we all hear a lot but don’t interrogate enough: Inquiry.
Please drop by the project’s website and let me know what you think!

On this week’s podcast, I talk with Minnesota naturalist Claire Dobie. Nature-based education is popular – who doesn’t like a field trip? But we don’t talk as much about how learning while immersed in the outdoors, in nature, can impact student behavior and outcomes.
Claire and I discuss the profession of naturalist and the “nature” of “nature-based education” – how we do it, why we do it, and how to get started!
Maybe most importantly, Claire and I talk about saying “I don’t know” when you have to. It’s a great way to model for learners that we don’t know everything (and aren’t supposed to!) – and that the learning part is the fun part.
Don’t forget to drop by the Web site to leave a comment, send an e-mail, or even suggest my next informal educator guest!

On this week’s podcast, I talk with piano teacher Jim Cornfoot from Memphis, Tennessee. We talk about the kinds of connections non-classroom teachers make with their students. For some informal educators like piano teachers, those connections can last for years.
There’s a huge body of research around affective connection and how it impacts learning. Essentially, we learn when we have connective relationships with the teachers and fellow learners around us. So the first blog post this week is about how we’re hard-wired to learn through interpersonal connection. Check it out on the blog here.
Also, I’m fascinated by the very basic question of “How do you talk to your students?” Like, exactly what mode do you use – do you lecture? Ask a lot of questions? What kind of questions? What’s your approach? So in the jargon blog, I look into one strategy called “reflective dialogue.” Check it out on the jargon blog here!
Don’t forget to drop by the Web site to leave a comment, send an e-mail, or even suggest my next informal educator guest!