Transformative Learning at Minstead Study Centre

Those of you interested in education will be pleased to hear that the Minstead Study Centre in the New Forest, Hampshire has evolved a five-day residential programme which immerses children in the concept of sustainability.

The programme is designed to bring to life the eight big ideas: Biodiversity, Energy, Water, Food and Farming, Recycling, Rich World Poor World, Transport & Cooperation. To do this we use a wide range of practical, verbal and visual means.

The wonderful Centre grounds and the surrounding forest offer an ideal context for a truly memorable learning experience which stays with the children for ever. Staying in the eco-dormitory further reinforces the messages as the children have first-hand experience of the living-learning building. They can see stunning examples of green technologies around them in the fabric and design of the building, whilst monitoring their use of rainwater, wood, electricity and solar energy on a day-to-day basis.

On arrival the children are whisked away to the wild woods to start their adventure.

Surrounded by ancient trees and fragile boglands they can start to reconnect with the natural world. To help with this each child chooses a wooden badge which provides them with their new name. With their new name they pass through the split trunk of the Queen Beech Tree, like passing through a natural doorway, offering the children a chance to change, marking a special moment of new thoughts and feelings. As the names are written in Latin each has a magical, mysterious quality. The names are drawn from a collection of native flora and fauna thus allowing each child to make a personal connection with one particular local species. As the week progresses the children determine which plant or animal they have become and the idea of a personal creature-teacher is developed giving them a chance to learn something special from the natural world. As their knowledge increases through the week their food chains gradually build into food webs illustrating the true interconnectedness of living things and likewise the true interconnectedness of themselves as a community.

Each new day at the Centre brings new delights and adventures: working in the garden as ‘muck movers' recycling kitchen waste to make compost, digging up vegetables for supper, learning about organics through fun games in the herb garden, meeting the sheep and chickens, learning where their food comes from, collecting eggs and feeding sheep, making felty fabric from the fleeces and doing ‘eggsperiments' with the eggs. Each activity carries a special message and delivers one of the main concepts of sustainability. Whilst reviewing the sessions the children are given a coloured wooden bead to represent the big idea.

The children head off mid-week to walk barefoot on the bogland which is such a fragile habitat that only the lightest tread is allowed. They debate ‘Do we, don't we dare set foot on this unique place?' and ask why boglands are threatened and how they can help by learning more.

Evening times too are a chance to consolidate ideas of how to live more harmoniously with the Earth. Stories are told in the Celtic roundhouse or out under the spreading Oak Tree with stars to amaze and silver moons to light our way: Iroquois tales, which teach of strange constellations; Aborigine tales of earth, air, fire and water.

As the adventure draws to a close, time is given to reflect on the eight messages of the week. Have the children started to understand the concepts of sustainability? Have they learnt a lesson from their creature-teacher? A meander around the miz maze gives them a chance to ponder these points. Once in the middle of the labyrinth the name badges are removed and each child has to decide if the badge has been earned. Do they deserve to be given their badge? Can they take their badge back home with them?

Many children return to the Centre years after their visit and all say that they still have their badge and remember every single thing they did during their week at Minstead.

Many say it changed their life forever.

Jane Pownall
Head of Centre
Minstead Study Centre
www.minstead.hampshire.org.uk

photos (c) Minstead Study Centre 2009

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