Edutopia, a George Lucas Foundation, is featuring Chattanooga’s Normal Park Museum Magnet in the “Schools That Work” series. The series of videos highlights practices and case studies from K-12 schools and districts that are improving the way students learn.
The Edutopia special features four hallmarks that are part of the larger Normal Park Way, which defines the school’s rich and award-winning instructional practice: Travel Journals as Student Created Textbooks, Using Exhibits as Assessments,Learning Expeditions through Rethinking Field Trips, and Learning Beyond the Classroom.
The video features school staff and students and are available through the Edutopia website, http://www.edutopia.org/schools-that-work.
Since the release of the videos last week, thousands of people around the world have viewed them. According to museum liaison Rachel Carroll, “It is exciting that the innovative instructional practices at Normal Park have become a national model and are now being shared throughout the world.”
George Lucas said, "Traditional education can be extremely isolating -- the curriculum is often abstract and not relevant to real life, teachers and students don't usually connect with resources and experts outside of the classroom, and many schools operate as if they were separate from their communities.
"The George Lucas Educational Foundation documents and disseminates the most exciting classrooms where these innovations are taking place. By shining the spotlight on these inspiring teachers and students, we hope others will consider how their work can promote change in their own schools."