Creating a joyful and challenging learning process is a part of the Lausanne Way and something Lausanne teachers do every day. Fun and innovative ways of teaching can also be found throughout the campus on a daily basis.
A few weeks ago as fifth-graders returned from common time to a surprise Real World Scholars (RWS) kick-off experience in Dr. Robin Trusty's classroom.
While they were gone, teachers filled the room completely with trash. It hung from the ceiling and covered the floors. As students walked into their "trashroom," they were confronted with the environment they had seen in a few videos about the current state of our planet's landfill and oceans.
The first-hand experience was to help build awareness and empathy for living beings on Earth as they kicked off their Entrepreneurial Ecology unit and launch of their Lynx4rEarth project for the year.
"Step one in our design thinking model is to build empathy for the products students are being asked to create and sell as part of their yearlong, interdisciplinary Environmental Ecology project," 5th Grade Language and Literature teacher Kelly Douglas said. "Students are excited and eagerly working prototypes made from repurposed materials."
The product they create will not only promote awareness of items that cannot be recycled but also to keep the items from adding to the current problem by reusing them in a different way. This will be the third year 5th grade has received capital funding from Real World Scholars (RWS) in order to promote learning experiences in economics and entrepreneurial ideas.