The environmental focus of Yates Mill Elementary is aimed at providing children with outdoor experiences from which they can draw connections and have meaning. The brain likes experiences where it can see patterns and resists what ever seems meaningless and lacking in connections or personal involvement. Our rewards come not from having brains but in using them. Learning is individual, everyone has their own way of perceiving and processing information. Although we all are alike as human beings, research has found that we are each unique in how we perceive new information and experiences.
All individuals have different styles and comfort areas.
Some children are most comfortable with lecture while some children prefer hands on experiments. Our job as educators is to provide experiences that tap the strengths of individual learning styles. It is also critical that we build skills in areas that are not the preferred approach. Knowledge is constructed uniquely and individually. Creativity is emphasized in order to honor children s uniqueness.