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John Schell, associate
professor of occupational studies, has had a “whale
of a time” incorporating contextual teaching and learning
principles into one of his classes. Literally.
During a 1998 whale-watching excursion off the coast of Massachusetts,
Schell visited with the on-board naturalist, Cynde Bierman,
discussing how whales are threatened by toxic chemicals. When
Bierman learned that Schell conducted research about education,
she invited him to return to the sea the next morning as a
special guest, to critique the educational program on the
boat.
Schell and Bierman kept in touch and he has returned to Massachusetts
almost every summer since then to work with the Ocean Alliance
and Whale Conservation Institute on contextual teaching. The
program he and Bierman have developed aims to make teaching
and learning more relevant to work and other real-life contexts.
Again this summer, Schell will bring UGA undergraduate and
graduate students, with middle and high school teachers and
pre-service teachers, to Massachusetts for nine days to help
WCI naturalists redesign their on-boat educational program.
The class is still open for students who want to help develop
situated-learning experiences that connect whale-watching
with broader ecological issues.
The class focuses on situated cognition: natural learning
that takes place in natural settings. The goal is to align
context-based learning principles with the art of teaching.
The Massachusetts whales offer a place for Schell’s
students to practice the art of teaching and learning…naturally.
Building the New Learning Environment
The new learning environment is an academic and intellectual
community on the campus of the University of Georgia humming
with the vibrancy of the true college experience—bright
and talented students working with brilliant faculty formally
in the classroom and informally over a cup of coffee or lounging
in the greenspace which stretches from one end of campus to
the other. It is a place which recognizes that new information
technologies are transforming traditional academic disciplines
and embraces those opportunities. |
Almost
every summer, John Schell takes a group of UGA students out to sea
so they can learn about better ways to teach on land.
