Live It Learn It Goes to College

Live It Learn It recently collaborated with UDC Community College (UDC-CC) to create an exciting experiential learning opportunity for UDC students. Tony Keith, a Student Support Specialist at UDC-CC, describes the collaboration and its impact on UDC students.

"The University of the District of Columbia Community College (UDC-CC) partnered with Live It Learn It in Spring 2012 for a cultural film and community engagement program entitled "REEL. REAL." After screening the documentary "Waiting for Superman" at the community college, several students expressed an interest in learning more about public education and alternative approaches to instruction. Immediately, I thought of Live It Learn It because they have an awesome model of using community resources as classrooms. Although Live It Learn It traditionally works with elementary school students, the staff were willing to modify their Frederick Douglass lesson plan for UDC-CC students (average age is 29).

Cedar Hill, the home where Douglass lived during his time in Washington, DC

About 10 UDC-CC students and 2 staff members traveled from campus to Anacostia to participate in this experiential lesson and Live It Learn It did a phenomenal job! The pre-lesson, activities, site tour, and post lesson were engaging and extremely educational. However, what my students mostly benefited from was the critical dialogue that took place after the post-lesson. The staff at Live It Learn It developed a series of questions aimed at promoting students' thoughts about racial inequality and social justice - which felt just like a college level course. Overall, my students had a blast and even asked if we would be partnering with Live It Learn It for another lesson the following semester. I guess that means, we are!"

Any guesses as to which DC museum is one of the most popular in the entire country, boasting over five million visitors a year? I'll give you a hint...some of the exhibits there are out of this world!

That would be the National Air and Space Museum, where 5th grade students from Neval Thomas Elementary recently visited for their Science and Nature unit. Because we live in a city with lots of lights competing with the beauty of the night sky, the planetarium show was the first time most of the students had ever seen just how many stars (and other objects!) lie beyond our solar system. Needless to say, they were amazed as the lights went dark and the "sky" lit up.

After the show students had the opportunity to try their hands at astronomy as they used telescopes to view images of the Sun and record their observations.

Students showcased their math skills as they completed an activity calculating the Earth's rotations, as well as days, months, and years. They also tested their solar system knowledge as they competed in a memory game.

And what did students have to say about the trip?

"My favorite part of the trip is when I got to see the stars and planets up close. It was cool!" -Logan M.

"My favorite part was the planetarium because when the sky was moving I thought the floor was moving too!" -Mason B.