What happens when we inspire youth? When giving them the tools, experiences, and room to show us how deeply capable and creative they are? And when we take project-based, experiential learning far outside the classroom and into nature?

By allowing students to explore the outdoors as the classroom, instead of offering the traditional lockstep recipe for “success,” we create critical thinkers, lifelong learners, and whole people excited to create positive change.

Today’s guest, Dawn Robinette, is bringing the classroom to nature in her micro-school. Dawn  is the founder and director of Camino De Santiago Nature School. Her school weaves core academics in with the study of nature-based subject matter and creates deep connections between students, parents, and Mother Nature. 

 

About Dawn Robinette:

Dawn Robinette is the founder and director of Camino De Santiago Nature School, founded in January 2013. It serves as an alternative and unique educational resource for children 5 to 12 years old that provides them with academic experiences while immersed in nature. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1993, where the school’s philosophy of Learning By Doing resonated with her. At the University of Washington, Dawn’s master’s thesis was based on design-build. She spent nine months as a teacher’s assistant, working on a design-build project in which her class built a multigenerational home for the indigenous community of Yakima, WA. Dawn also taught young adults at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Art Institute of Orange County.

For more information, please visit her website or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Jump in the Conversation:

• [2:06] The beginnings of learning in nature
• [7:17] Making learning relevant through design-build projects
• [11:53] Summative assessment versus formative assessments
• [18:26] Roadblocks and obstacles for alternative education
• [37:33] Dawn’s Magic Wand: develop more programs to offer outdoor learning to students—even those in traditional educational environments 
• [41:19] Maureen’s Take-Aways

  Links and Resources:

• Leo, Dog of the Sea chronicles 
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer: instructive poetry on Chief Seattle’s web of life
• Tom Brown, Jr, naturalist, school founder, and author
• Schools are Killing Creativity, Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk
• Cradle to Cradle Design, William McDonough’s TED talk 
• Harvard article on the importance of play
• Benefits of Nature for Kids
• U of Minnesota’s How Does Nature Impact Our Wellbeing?
• The Camino de Santiago
• Email Maureen
• The Education Evolution
• Facebook: Follow Education Evolution
• Twitter: Follow Education Evolution
• LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution
• EdActive Collective
• Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids
• Micro-school feature on Good Morning America
• The Micro-School Coalition
• Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition
• LEADPrep