WORLD'S FUTURIST EDUCATION MODELS
World's Most Unusual Schools
Anyone that has children will know how difficult it is when the time comes to mull over what educational institutions to send them to. After all, the consequences of one decision over another could have repercussions that echo through the rest of their lives. These 14 highly unusual schools are a testament to the boldness of the founders, the educators that work in them and the students that attend them. Here are the institutions that turned conventional educational wisdom on its head:
Makoko Floating School, Lagos, Nigeria
This school, which caters to all age groups, was originally constructed to contend with the rising water levels in the lagoon in which it sits. It’s home to both numerous classrooms and play areas, and can safely support up to 100 children even in the most extreme of weather.
School in a cube, Copenhagen, Denmark
Imagine a 1,100-capacity high school that doesn’t have any interior walls. That’s what this school in a cube is, with the entire space being referred to as the gymnasium. The only separation that exists within it are the “drums”, which are elevated areas with comfortable seating that are designed to encourage the students’ flexibility and creative thinking.
A school with an individual approach, Australia
This Australian school turned conventional educational wisdom on its head by developing learning plans for each individual student. These learning plans can easily be adjusted by parents or teachers, and the students themselves get to have a say on how to make the educational process work better for them. Classes are held in very small groups.
The hands-on school, Rhode Island, USA
At this institution, students are encouraged from a very young age to figure out what they like and what they want to be when they grow up. Once those things are established, they are paired with a mentor in their chosen field, and only taught what they need for their future careers. This teaching strategy is used at just 55 schools throughout the United States.
The office school, Ohio USA
In this school, each one of the 300 students sits in their very own cubicle. They have their own computer that guides them through an individual learning plan. They’re expected to work their way through it of their own accord, only asking for advice when they get stuck on something.
The school for dangerous things, San Francisco, California, USA
Imagine being allowed to do all the things that your parents told you not to when you were a kid. Those things are exactly what this school allows its students to do. They’re allowed to get dirty, play with fire and disassemble household appliances, among other things. This learning strategy is supposed to allow students to “co-author” their learning.
The gender-neutral school, Stockholm, Sweden
In Sweden, there’s a school that has done away with the notion of gender, rendering students completely equal to each other. The students are not referred to using feminine and masculine pronounce, such as “he” or “she” – they’re addressed using their first names, or as “they”. This concept is designed to fight stereotypes that students who feel different normally associate them with.
A rather bright elementary school, Stockholm, Sweden
This is a school that does away with the idea of a traditional library, employing multi-use “learning corridors” instead. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t quiet spaces – they’re just strategically placed within the corridors for when they’re needed. There’s WiFi access everywhere. The idea behind the layout is for it to foster interdisciplinary and inter-grade learning.
The school of Silicon Valley, San Francisco, California
As you would probably have guessed, this school has nothing to do with a regular one. Kids register their attendance on iPads, work through a “playlist” of activities, and use 3D modeling software to design playhouses. Students at this school are aged 4 to 14.
Steve Jobs school, Amsterdam, the Netherland
The biggest emphasis that this school makes is on the individuality of its students. Their individual learning plans take their talents, skills and interests into account. The plans are evaluated every six weeks by a child, their parents and their coach (or teacher). Students aged between 4 and 12 attend this school.
The compassion and creativity school, New York, USA
“Playground-like” is a good way of describing this school, because it was built on the notion that schools themselves actually have to be more like playgrounds. Its founders believe that placing the emphasis on compassion and creativity encourages the students to devote more of their time to learning new things. Some of the activities relate to environmental issues, 3D modeling, among others designed to spark curiosity.
The mountain and cave school, Stockholm, Sweden
Yet another school on this list that does away with conventional classrooms also happens to be filled with mountains, caves and trees. The students perform their academic tasks on computers, however their learning also includes music, dance and art.
The school with no subjects, Toronto, Canada
This Canadian school blurs the line between teacher and student. In fact, the teachers are only allowed to observe and advise rather than force students into having to do or learn something. No homework is given, there are no assessments or strict schedules to speak of, and the students only attend the classes they really like. They’re free to choose how they spend their school day.
The “green” school, France
Every square inch of this school seems to be covered in lawn, and this is due to the belief that sitting in dusty classrooms does more harm than good. Students are encouraged to spend as much time in the outdoors as possible, and classes are even held outside when the weather is good enough.
Cultivating Kindness and Compassion in Children
by Kristina Ponischil, December 8, 2014
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” – Aristotle
On Friday December 5, Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl addressed the growing body of research supporting the importance of promoting children’s social and emotional learning (SEL), especially within the classroom.
Her public lecture titled “Cultivating Kindness and Compassion in Children: Recent Research and Practical Strategies” delved into some of the SEL initiatives occurring in Canada and the US, and explored questions around the roots of empathy, whether empathy and compassion can be taught, and best practices for promoting happiness and altruism in ourselves and the children with whom we interact.
Dr. Schonert-Reichl is an Applied Developmental Psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology and Special Education at the University of British Columbia.
She began her professional career first as a middle school teacher and then as a high school teacher for youth “at risk.” For over 20 years she has been conducting research in the area of the child and adolescent SEL and development with a particular emphasis on identifying the processes and mechanisms that foster positive development, such as empathy, optimism, and altruism.
Background
What happens when you give children the opportunity to talk about how they feel and how they believe others feel? The Roots of Empathy, an evidence-based classroom program developed in 1996 by Mary Gordon, aims to answer that question. The program brings an infant into K-8 classrooms to help students learn about human emotions and development, and has shown significant effects in reducing levels of aggression among school children while raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy. Dr. Schonert-Reichl noted that within the classroom, children shouldn’t merely be focused on learning subjects.
Why now?
Recent research suggests that children today are less empathic and more self-absorbed than they were a decade ago. Empathy involves being able to identify emotions, understand and explain emotions, and respond appropriately to those emotions. Increasing societal risk factors and challenges such as poverty, stress, bullying, and mental illness make it more difficult for children to develop high levels of empathy.
Stress, especially, is highly toxic in the brain, leading to increased levels of cortisol (a hormone that modulates stress physiology). This can negatively affect the prefrontal cortex, which controls self-regulation and executive functioning. Thus, highly stressed children may find it more difficult to effectively understand and regulate their own emotions, thus diminishing their capacity to develop empathy for others. Furthermore, stress is contagious, and when you are involved in networks of about 15 stressed individuals or more, you are likely to be stressed as well. Research even shows links between teacher stress and increased anxiety and depression in students (Milkie & Warner, 2011).
What now? Lessons learned from recent science
If you went to the gym and exercised once, would you expect immediate results or for any positive gains to last long-term? Of course not! We must also think about social and emotional fitness in the same way. Qualities like self-awareness, empathy, peaceful problem solving, and self-regulation need to be learned and practiced over time in order to develop consistent behavioral gains.
When we consider promoting resiliency, Dr. Schonert-Reichl emphasized focusing on children’s strengths rather than deficits, and favoring prevention over intervention. To set children up for success, we must equip them with the right tools ahead of time (like a life jacket) instead of waiting for crises to occur (like throwing a life-ring when someone is already in the water).
In terms of SEL, Dr. Schonert-Reichl quoted Dan Goleman, author of the New York Times bestseller Emotional Intelligence, who said that “The emotional brain responds to an event more quickly than the thinking brain.” Research shows that only about 20% of success can be predicted by one’s IQ, so we must look beyond children’s academic achievement when predicting their likelihood of success later in life. One study showed that when 3rd graders were assessed on dimensions of pro-socialness as well as academic achievement, levels of pro-socialness in 3rd grade better predicted academic achievement in 8th grade than 3rd grade academic performance.
There are five areas of SEL to consider (as identified by CASEL – Collaborate for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning):
- Self-awareness: The ability to accurately recognize one’s emotions and thoughts and their influence on behavior. This includes accurately assessing one’s strengths and limitations and possessing a well-grounded sense of confidence and optimism.
- Self-management: The ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations. This includes managing stress, controlling impulses, motivating oneself, and setting and working toward achieving personal and academic goals.
- Social awareness: The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures, to understand social and ethical norms for behavior, and to recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
- Relationship skills: The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. This includes communicating clearly, listening actively, cooperating, resisting inappropriate social pressure, negotiating conflict constructively, and seeking and offering help when needed.
- Responsible decision making: The ability to make constructive and respectful choices about personal behavior and social interactions based on consideration of ethical standards, safety concerns, social norms, the realistic evaluation of consequences of various actions, and the well-being of self and others.
In British Columbia, SEL is an intentional part of school curriculum. During the 2013 – 2014 academic year, 90% of school districts listed SEL and/or self-regulation as a top priority (compared to only 37% from 2010 – 2011). By focusing on SEL, these school districts are embodying three proposed cross-curricular competencies, each with a number of sub-domains:
- Thinking competency: critical thinking, creative thinking, and reflective thinking.
- Personal and social competency: positive personal and cultural identity, personal awareness and responsibility, and social awareness and responsibility.
- Communication competency: language and symbols, and digital literacy.
Our brains are malleable and research on neuroplasticity supports the notion that empathy and compassion can definitely be taught. Promoting SEL in the classroom can lead to student gains such as increased social and emotional skills, improved attitude, and up to 11% improvement on achievement tests. Children also see reduced risks for failure such as decreases in conduct problems, aggressive behavior, and emotional distress (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011).
An Experiment
Take a moment to pause and reflect on something you are truly thankful for this week.
How do you feel? Did you know that practicing gratitude can actually increase your levels of happiness? Sonja Lyubormirsky, researcher and author of The How of Happiness, found that only 50% of our happiness can be attributed to genetics/temperament.
While 10% can be attributed to circumstance, 40% can be attributed to intentional activity that we control. By engaging in activities like expressing gratitude, random acts of kindness, counting your blessings, imagining your best possible self, and using your strengths in a new way, you can develop positive habits that promote higher levels of overall happiness.
These findings hold true for children as well. Layous et al. (2012) found that students who engaged in random acts of kindness experienced significantly bigger increases in peer acceptance than students who did not practice random acts of kindness. Pro-sociality not only improved children’s personal well-being, but also positively affected their perceptions of those around them.
Furthermore, one of Dr. Schonert-Reichl’s studies found that volunteering once a week for 10 weeks significantly reduced the risk for heart disease and increased levels of empathy amongst a sample of adolescents (Schreier, Schonert-Reichel, & Chen, 2013). Lastly, Warneken and Tomasello (2013) found that children as young as two years old have a propensity towards altruism and will naturally help out strangers, even when no reward is involved.
5 ways to promote empathy and compassion in children
To sum up, Dr. Schonert-Reichl suggested the following five strategies to promote empathy and compassion in children:
1. What not to do: rewards!
When given rewards (such as toys), children actually help less than when no rewards are given or when only verbal praise is given. Rewards may undermine the positive feelings we naturally experience when we help others (over justification theory), which can diminish a child’s desire to help in the future in the absence of an external reward.
2. Recognize the capacity children have for empathy and sympathy (we tend to underestimate them constantly).
Look for opportunities to practice restoration in relationships. If a child hurts another child, instead of scolding the perpetrator, have him identify how the other child must be feeling and think of ways he could make the hurt child feel better.
3. Encourage children to engage in opportunities to help others and talk (reflect) about the good feelings that come from kindness.
Think back to the positive gains children experience as a result of the Roots of Empathy program. Foster these types of opportunities for the children in your life.
4. Maximize support and minimize punishment.
“Every child requires someone in his or her life who is absolutely crazy about them” – Urie Bronfrenrenner. Show you care by acknowledging your own mistakes with your children, demonstrating forgiveness, and remembering that children will learn more from your actions than from your words.
5. Help develop a caring and kind identity (instead of a saying, “That was a kind thing to do,” say, “You are such a kind person”).
“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build the youth for our future” – Franklin D. Roosevelt. Use every opportunity you have to build up your child’s sense of self-worth by validating their identity as a compassionate human being.
For more information about Dr. Schonert-Reichl’s work, visit https://research.educ.ubc.ca/ksr/index.html.
To learn more about the mindfulness training we currently offer at CCFW, please visit our events page.
Videos:
Educate the Heart: https://educatingtheheart.org/
The Doorman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E40nAWiIFuc
Experiments with altruism and children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-eU5xZW7cU
Kindness through their eyes: https://dalailamacenter.org/learn/kindness-through-their-eyes
academics but also encouraged to explore who it is they are going to be. In order to cultivate this type of environment, schools must be very explicit in how they “educate the heart.” Within the past decade, we’ve seen the science to support this method of education and the concept of SEL in the classroom is becoming more widely implemented.