Inside an unoccupied house, a student gingerly pushes open a creaky door and takes a wary step into a dark room-only to find the walls completely splattered with blood. It sounds like the cliché climax in a horror movie, but for students in the criminal justice program at Gwynedd Mercy University, it's a regular class assignment. This fall, Gwynedd Mercy unveiled a new Crime Scene House, a three-story home that features various staged rooms for experiential learning in forensic science.
A bright new playground has opened at Baoshan No. 2 Central Primary School in Shanghai, where the worlds of LEGO bricks and Nike sportswear collide to reshape how children experience recess. The project grew out of LEGO's "Build the Change" workshop, during which pupils used 2 × 3 LEGO bricks to sketch ideas for a playground that would feel like a giant building set. Those sketches became the blueprint for a vibrant, modular play space that blends sport, imagination and movement.
Employers emphasize skills learned in higher education over content, highlighting the need for students to adapt and respond to the evolving workplace. This shift often derives from degree inflation and the adjusting requirements of jobs that necessitate postsecondary education.
Experiential learning is a student-centered approach that emphasizes learning through doing. Instead of passively receiving information, learners actively engage in realistic tasks, reflect on their actions, and adapt their strategies.
For example, although my kids learned about the Holocaust in school, visiting museums and gas chambers in Auschwitz elevated their understanding of it and taught them even more about the horrific genocide.