Building The Future In Missy Flanders' Classroom
Building the future is not just a metaphor in Missy Flanders' 3rd grade classroom at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School. To her, it’s both philosophy and project – and her students are preparing to learn firsthand how to combine both.
Tiny House is the name of Flanders' upcoming Project-Based Learning (PBL) initiative. Essentially, students will learn about different aspects of how buildings go from ideation to completion. “Student design teams will consult with tiny house “clients” to learn about the client's budget, needs, and personal preferences. They will use this information, along with key math concepts related to measurement and geometry, to design and create blueprints of custom tiny homes for their clients. Students will also read about housing, tiny homes, and construction in order to apply what they learn from their reading to their designs” Flanders said. “I plan to have an architect, architectural engineer, and a local contractor join my classroom, either in-person or virtually, to provide expertise and offer real-world experiences to my students. I hope to have a replica of a model home so the students will have an example.”
Construction of structures for shelter, work, and/or recreation is a craft humans have iterated on from their earliest days. In Flanders’ eyes, this is about helping students experience another form of learning set inside an engaging project, “I believe that PBL’s increase student engagement and provide students the opportunity to be active participants in their learning. It is a self-directed learning approach where the students get to explore and work collaboratively with other students. They apply the content and skills that they’ve learned to real-world situations.”
Crucial to the success of students as they journey through their formal educational experience to the point when they enter the workforce after graduation is the ability to work in teams. This is an essential ingredient to PBL for Flanders, “I believe that there are so many crucial life skills that occur during the project-based learning process. PBL’s instill leadership skills. Students must learn how to effectively work together and communicate with the members of their group. Critical thinking occurs when the students encounter a problem and have to work together to solve it.”
Driving the point home for everyone who has ever sat in a classroom wondering how what they are learning will apply to their real life is Flanders’ passion for these types of projects, “Students learn that the content being taught in the classroom has a purpose and can have an impact on their future.”
