{"id":499,"date":"2022-03-18T23:03:51","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T23:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moreland.carney.co\/community-engagement-strengthens-learning\/"},"modified":"2023-03-12T20:42:26","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T00:42:26","slug":"community-engagement-strengthens-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moreland.edu\/resources\/blog-insights\/community-engagement-strengthens-learning","title":{"rendered":"Community Engagement Strengthens Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt takes a village to raise a child,\u201d is an African proverb<\/span><\/a> with new meaning in the era of digital learning as global connections are readily available to anyone with an internet connection. 20th-century educational theorist Jean Piaget<\/span><\/a> concluded that people do not passively learn or wait to be filled like empty vessels; rather, people create their own knowledge in community with others around them. In other words, learning does not happen in isolation. Educators must build an environment for rich learning experiences to take place by fostering community engagement. Engaging the community provides students with diverse perspectives, access to learn from people in their fields of interest, and opportunities to do purposeful work alongside their peers. When teachers and leaders ignite students\u2019 curiosity, students are empowered to construct their own meaning in personalized ways. Continue reading to learn ways teachers and leaders can leverage community engagement to enable students to create new knowledge and understanding!<\/p>\n

Local Community Partners<\/h4>\n

Local community partners provide diverse opportunities for students to do purposeful learning within the context of the real world in their own neighborhoods. Student learning is concretized, in part, by connections they are able to make with their communities. An important goal of community connection in the classroom is that students see the local impact of concepts and skills they learn at school. A project I co-designed with my fifth-grade students in Ridgway, Colorado was a prime example of a community partnership that resulted in measurable learning outcomes.<\/p>\n

Working closely with our school\u2019s Art and Media Specialist along with students\u2019 families, I partnered with a local art supply store and coffee shop to facilitate a project about the economics of the art world. Students had been studying local geographical landscapes through the perspective of art and science. In this project, students created watercolor paintings of local landscapes which they matted and displayed in an art show at the local coffee shop. Students prepared to sell their artwork and advertised the art show within their community. On opening night, my students and I waited anxiously for visitors as we anticipated public response and reaction to the artwork.<\/p>\n

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