Edutopia

I recently watched two podcast at iTunes University about classroom learning. The two podcasts were called the Edible Classroom and A Night In The Global Village. These podcast were on the Edutpoia site located on iTunes University. The quickest way to find them is by doing a search for them. The Edible Clsssroom was very unique in that it was centered around a garden outside of the school that the students worked in and learned basic social skills. The school garden also incorporated a class kitchen where students learned how to cook the food they grew. This was invaluable for the students learning opportunity. A Night In The Global Village was very interesting in that students in Colorado where given the opportunity to spend the night at a local ranch and experience the living conditions of other countries. This was unique in that it gave the children an insight into other cultures and how other people in different countries deal with lack of food and resources.

These podcast can be very useful in exposing students to other cultures and living conditions the world over. I thought that the Village one was not that profound. It was really more like camping and if they wanted to have a lasting affect on those children the length of stay should have been much longer than one night. The Edible Classroom one was one that has the most potential. Children should learn basic things like growing and cooking their own food. Although I was surprised and amused that having a garden seemed to be a great and wonderful idea that was thought up by a local restaurant owner as though it had never been done. When I was in school we had agriculture class and we had a green house and grew a garden. Maybe growing up in Alabama does have some advantages over growing up in California. Both podcast were very interesting, well done, and worth watching.