Colorado’s Open Classrooms
Online learning is more than online classrooms. The advancement of the Internet has opened whole new worlds and learning opportunities so vast that it is hard to quantify. The world shrank and relatively overnight became one international classroom, but it also became a platform for local learning like Denver Public School’s High School Online to the Denver Seminary Online to virtually all of the regional and local institutions of higher learning. There is simply a cornucopia of online local opportunities, but the Internet can be far more.
There is a method of homeschooling classified as “Unschooling” or “open classroom.” In Jefferson County, sixth graders have the opportunity to expand their learning at the Mount Evans Outdoor lab. The philosophy behind the open classroom is real hands on learning in the real world. Often the subjects being taught in the classroom or even online can be more effectively taught with the incorporation of the open classroom. Some subjects can become stale while sitting, but those same subjects can come alive and inspire great enthusiasm.
Through the utilization of the Internet, teachers can more effectively prepare students prior to visiting the mainstream educational institutions from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to the Denver Art Museums to the Denver Botanic Gardens. In addition, teacher and students can use the Internet to locate the not so obvious open classroom opportunities like historic Colorado ghost towns or archeological digs at the four corners Crow Canyon or geology at the Argo Gold Mine and Mill in Idaho Springs. The Internet has opened a whole new way to search for Colorado’s best and least known open classroom opportunities so unplug and get out there to learn!
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