Project Education Learning Lab- A Family-based Summer School

Andrews UniversityDigital Commons @ Andrews University 4-2004 Project Education Learning Lab: A Family-based Summer School Randy J.. Siebold Andrews University, rjs@andrews.edu Katie Sha

Andrews University

Digital Commons @ Andrews University

4-2004

Project Education Learning Lab: A Family-based

Summer School

Randy J Siebold

Andrews University, rjs@andrews.edu

Katie Shaw

Andrews University

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Siebold, Randy J and Shaw, Katie, "Project Education Learning Lab: A Family-based Summer School" (2004) Lake Union Herald.

702.

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Anyone can sit behind a desk and

read from a textbook about the

inner workings of static electricity

But when you see the effects of

positively charged electrons make

your best friend’s mom’s hair stand

on end and laugh until it hurts,

that’s learning you’ll never forget

Seventeen children participated

in an out-of-the-box educational

experience, called Project Education

Learning Lab, or PELL, for two

months during the summer of

2003 Children and their parents,

primarily from the Seventh-day

Adventist church in Stevensville,

Michigan, took part in a hands-on

summer school, directed by Randy

Siebold, assistant professor

of teaching and learning at

Andrews University, as an

extension of his doctoral

dissertation Andrea

Baldwin, graduate student,

acted as assistant director

This process-based

approach to Adventist

education is rooted in

concepts found in Ellen G

White’s book, Education

The project received

funding from the K–16

Collaboration Council at

Andrews University, with

additional assistance

from the Lake Union, the

Michigan Conference, and

the Stevensville Seventh-day

Adventist Church

In February of 2003, a group

of parents, educators, a pastor,

and students met with Randy to

form the design team They were

given the task

of crafting a summer school curriculum based on

Education for participating students in the Stevensville Church The team was led through the design process

by using the Mission-Infinity model, simply combining the

“thinking” and

“doing” stages of any idea with the mission of the concept at its core

The group studied Education as

well as other pertinent articles and

handouts before beginning to construct the curriculum The team chose Joel Bennett, recent Andrews graduate, to facilitate the summer program with the help of Rachael Barrera, Andrews Academy senior The learning lab began June

10, 2003, with the first week consisting of interviews with the students and their parents to better understand their needs and to help tailor group activities Four main

“classes” were taught during the six weeks of summer school: Flight in Nature (experiencing and observing natural flight), Web Site Design (sharing knowledge through the Internet), Aerodynamics

(exploring and experimenting with the physics of flight), and

Matthew Lemon tries out some of the controls on one of the Andrews Airpark planes Airpark personnel gave the kids and their parents airplane rides around campus.

Rob Zdor helps Lathan Bidwell get his custom-built kite airborne.

Project Education Learning Lab:

A Family-based Summer School

B Y R A N D Y S I E B O L D , A N D R E A B A L D W I N , A N D K A T I E S H A W

20 • Lake Union Herald, April 2004 Now you can read the Lake Union Herald online.

The Ultimate Flight (a

drama on the second

coming of Christ)

“Classes

were meant to be

experience- or

theme-based,” Randy said,

“not subject-based

Students learned

physics, math, and

reading in one class

instead of three

separate courses.”

Students and their

parents could choose

to attend during the

mornings or afternoons

of two- or four-day

weeks This schedule

allowed for more

parent participation because of the

flexibility it provided

Some older peers who are

Stevensville Church members

and experienced birders, led the

group on a nature walk around

the Andrews University campus,

pointing out this or that species

for the Flight in Nature class The

group also traveled to nearby

Warren Dunes State Park on Lake

Michigan to explore other types of

flight, such as flying squirrels For the Aerodynamics class, the kids made paper airplanes and kites

They also saw the equal effects

of gravity on water balloons of different weights Students timed each water balloon’s fall from several feet in the air, discovering that, regardless of the weight, both balloons hit the pavement at the same time “We talked about concepts only after the kids had

seen and experienced them in reality,” Randy said

Because the learning experiences were child-centered, students had the opportunity to work on various projects at their own pace with the help and encouragement

of their peers, PELL staff, and, most importantly, their parents During the closing ceremony day, each student presented a project they had completed during the summer course to an audience of proud parents, fellow students, and educators Each student was also given a certificate of completion The future of the PELL program

is being considered, while Andrea Baldwin is using her involvement

in this experience as the theme of

her dissertation Randy and Andrea found that involving the local church leadership

in the course design process helped to provide continuity for the students’ learning experiences Stan Hickerson, Stevensville Church pastor, was able to integrate themes from the school into his Sabbath sermons and to promote the school’s concepts to his parishioners PELL has also proved that home, school, and church can collaborate for organized learning— enabling students to develop physically, mentally, and spiritually

as God intended

Randy Siebold is an Andrews University assistant professor of teaching and learning, Andrea Baldwin is a graduate student, and Katie Shaw is a university relations news writer

The group traveled to Warren Dunes State Park to learn about flight in nature from one of the

naturalists.

Randy Siebold used his video camera to show Adam Proctor and his classmates frame-by-frame footage of two water balloons of varying weight hit the ground at the exact same time due to equal gravity pull.

Visit our Web site at luc.adventist.org Lake Union Herald, April 2004• 21