Longfellow Learns Everywhere

by Olaf Lind, cameras: Aaron Rigby & Wyatt Biegel, editing: Aaron Rigby 

See the entire performance

It was a Friday morning, just before summer vacation, and the Longfellow Elementary Kindergarten students were setting off on a walking fieldtrip. First on the list was a stop at the old factory down the hill, up the elevator to the fourth floor, and down the hall to Valley Media Works/Chippewa Valley Community Television to tour the television station and record a couple songs. From there it would be a stop at the park, and then on to a movie at a locally owned theater downtown.

Quite a day, and what an opportunity for learning! Without even thinking about it these young minds would be touching, doing, and experiencing things related to science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics while they think they’re having a day out of school. Let’s take a closer look.

At the TV station students learned about audio and video feedback, practiced their musical performance skills, and laughed a lot when they saw themselves close up in the video reference monitor. They got to see the outcomes of technological innovation, and maybe as they get older these experiences will be in the back of their minds as they pursue fields that require an understanding of physics, mathematics, and communication whether as animators, technicians, or artists.

And, what about the time in the park? Isn’t there value in taking a moment to be out in the sunshine, making observations, letting their bodies create valuable vitamin D, experiencing the mad cacophony of young ones lunching. I think there is.

There’s not much happening to encourage learning at the movie theater, right? Wrong. Have you ever tried to make a movie, tell a good story, figure out how to make an animated character look like it’s actually talking? What about the data networking and playback systems necessary to make that movie appear on the screen? Or, how about instilling an entrepreneurial spirit through visiting locally owned businesses?

All things experienced provide a backdrop of meaning to inform our future education. Learning in a vacuum tends to lead to a fleeting mastery of material for test taking purposes, but seldom seems to stick. School field trips provide just the sort of experiences that allow students to want to be something, do something, and to strive to understand. And, even if everything I’ve told you about the benefits of their field trip isn’t quite right, while they were here at Chippewa Valley Community Television everyone in the studio was smiling. That’s worth its weight in gold.

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