Month: April 2025
The Rural Library Traveling Exhibit Project
Connecting Communities: The Impact of Great River Children’s Museum Education Kits
The Great River Children’s Museum (GRCM) brings engaging, hands-on learning experiences to children and families across Central Minnesota. Through a unique partnership with the Great River Regional Library (GRRL), the museum developed an educational initiative that reaches children who might otherwise lack access to exciting museum content. This program, which involves the distribution of rotating educational kits to libraries in the region, has already made a significant impact in the community.
Expanding Access and Building Relationships
The Great River Children’s Museum was successful in:
Raising Awareness about the Museum’s Future Location
The educational kits provided library staff with materials that helped them share information about the museum’s future location and offerings. Extra Experience programming, a collaboration between the museum and library staff, further helped raise awareness through community outreach.
Providing Access to Engaging Content
The project provided children and their families with educational materials and experiences that would otherwise be inaccessible. Each kit was carefully designed to reflect the content of the museum’s permanent exhibits. These kits included a variety of engaging materials, from coding bugs and foam dinosaur blocks to novel science experiments and weaving looms.
Strengthening Partnerships with GRRL
By building a collaborative relationship with GRRL, the project provided librarians with the training, materials, and programming needed to support their educational initiatives. This collaboration not only helped enrich library programs but also established a foundation for future partnerships between the museum and the libraries.
In parallel, GRRL aimed to:
Develop Lifelong Learning Partnerships
The museum’s programming aligned with GRRL’s strategic goals to promote lifelong learning. The kits encouraged individual libraries to collaborate with GRCM, ensuring that programming needs were met while fostering strong community ties.
Enhance Literacy Skills Through Museum Exhibits
As part of the grant, library staff were encouraged to create themed book displays that complemented the kits. These displays further reinforced the connection between the kits and the development of literacy skills for children, offering a holistic approach to learning.
Connect Library Users to Museum Resources
Library staff encouraged visitors to sign up for the museum’s newsletter, keeping them informed about the progress of the museum and additional resources available as the project moved forward.
Impact on Learning: Connecting with Thousands of Children and Families
The museum’s educational initiative has already had a profound effect on learning in rural communities that are typically far from larger metro areas like Minneapolis and St. Paul. Many of the children served by this program would not have had access to the type of museum-quality programming provided by GRCM.
Additionally, the program has opened up new opportunities for collaboration with local daycares, schools, and early childhood programs. These partnerships have allowed the museum to pilot future exhibits and programs, which will support long-term learning as the museum prepares to open its physical doors in the Spring of 2025.
The museum’s outreach efforts have been met with enthusiasm, and the libraries involved in the program have often requested additional Extra Experience events due to their success. In fact, the program’s popularity led to GRCM being invited to present at two conferences to share insights into how the project has shaped community partnerships and educational efforts.
Continuing to Serve Central Minnesota
As the Great River Children’s Museum moves toward opening its doors, the success of this project will undoubtedly play a key role in shaping the museum’s future programming. The relationships built with libraries, schools, and community organizations during this project will provide a solid foundation for continued collaboration.
With the ongoing support of GRRL and the museum’s growing presence in Central Minnesota, the project will continue to inspire and educate children, fostering a lifelong love of learning and exploration in a way that’s accessible to all. Click the link below for updates on the Great River Children’s Museum.
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Breaking Barriers with “Aire Libre”
At Yerba Buena High School in San Jose, California, a groundbreaking initiative is transforming the educational experience for at-risk students. Introducing “Aire Libre,” a project designed to remove both literal and metaphorical barriers, provides students with the freedom to explore the natural world and unlock their intellectual and creative potential.
“Aire Libre” translates to “free air,” and encapsulates the vision for the project. Many students face challenges that limit their opportunities—being students of color, low-income backgrounds, and often part of immigrant families. The project has created an environment where they can break free from these constraints and thrive.
The TERRA Club: A Foundation for Growth
The journey began with the TERRA club, co-led by Karen Lo and Ivon Rodriguez. This inclusive space teaches students about gardening and animal husbandry, including caring for a flock of chickens. What started as a beautiful garden on campus has evolved into a dynamic learning environment, fostering “unintentional” learning through hands-on experiences.
Connecting Education and Nature
Aire Libre is not just about gardening; it’s about education that is relevant and enriching. The curriculum is linked to student learning outcomes and focuses on:
- Environmental Education: Students engage in activities that promote awareness of environmental issues while hypothesizing and experimenting with solutions.
- Culinary Exploration: By cooking recipes from various cultures using fresh, organic produce, students learn about nutrition and the importance of healthy eating.
- Mental Health Awareness: Gardening has been shown to alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression, making it a vital component of our project.
- Personal Development: Lessons centered around perseverance, responsibility, and patience help students grow into well-rounded individuals.
A Collaborative and Community-Centric Approach
Aire Libre was integrated into the AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) program and made available to all interested teachers. A collaborative spirit among educators was developed while ensuring that every student had access to these transformative experiences.
Further, families participated in the garden alongside their children. This initiative not only strengthened community ties but also emphasized the importance of holistic health, encouraging families to bring fresh produce home.
Cultivating Learning: The Impact of the Aire Libre Garden Project
The Aire Libre garden project was initiated with clear and impactful goals: to establish a spiraling curriculum that integrates Schoolwide Learner Outcomes, environmental education, and the promotion of physical, mental, and emotional health. Our aim was not just to create a green space, but to turn it into a vibrant educational hub accessible to every teacher on campus.
In our efforts to integrate the garden into the curriculum, we collaborated with former students now at UC Berkeley to develop five reproducible lesson plans for grades 9-12. These lessons have been embraced by teachers across various subjects, including AP Environmental Science, Photography, Art, and English Language Development. The results have shown an impressive increase in student engagement. In 2023-2024 alone, over 2,300 students interacted with the garden—a remarkable jump from just 678 in 2018-2019. This growth reflects a deepening connection between students and their environment, and a growing interest from teachers to utilize this outdoor classroom for core instruction.
Led by five dedicated teachers, curriculum lessons were implemented in eleven classes. Through student surveys, we tailored lessons to reflect their interests, ensuring that the garden remains a space where learning is both relevant and engaging. Mini-lessons, often centered around student curiosity, have proven effective. For instance, one student with aspirations in entomology worked with peers to explore the role of insects in our ecosystem, leading to the introduction of beneficial insects like Black Soldier Fly Larvae in the garden.
Impact on Students and Teachers
The impact of the Aire Libre garden on student learning has been profound. Self-evaluations indicate that students feel they have improved across all areas of the Schoolwide Learner Outcomes. The garden has become a sanctuary for personal growth, fostering mental health and motivation among students. Teachers are also noticing the benefits; the experiential learning opportunities provided by the garden have sparked interest and engagement in subjects that may have once felt distant from students’ lives.
The Aire Libre garden has blossomed into a vital resource for our school community. With ongoing dedication and adaptability, we look forward to enhancing the curriculum and further enriching the educational experiences of our students. Together, we are cultivating not only plants but also a love for learning and a respect for our environment.
Be sure to visit the Instagram page for an in depth look: https://www.instagram.com/terra.ybhs/
McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation 