What’s Edutainment?
Utilizing new tools in our schools by Levan Radick -6/2000-
The new millennium has brought change in every field, including education.
Students expect to be educated and entertained while they are in school. They spend a good potion of their day in school, but there are many distractions outside of school that keep them from being interested in what’s going on in the classroom. If studies are to succeed, they must, to some extent, reflect life outside the classroom.
A new word for this style of teaching is EDUTAINMENT. This word in the dictionary is defined as: a form of entertainment that is designed to be educational. Edutainment, which started being used as an acceptable term in the 90s, has made its way to the new millennium and is a powerful teaching tool.
Edutainment comes in many forms: film, theater, T.V., assembly motivators, museums, software, games, and more. At one time, educators were concerned over whether graphics and animation would create a distraction to learning. The focus now is on helping children learn through hands-on experience and through utilizing all of their senses.
Film in the classroom is very useful and can keep the attention of students. Box office hits like Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List have been effective in high school to help students study the Holocaust and to teach tolerance.
The special sound effects and the ol’ razzle dazzle of film helps to get the message across. Thomas Edison once said “The motion picture is destined to revolutionize our educational system.” As a teaching tool, movies bring art and entertainment to a curriculum which often is perceived as drab and uninteresting. Movies also serve as a stimulus for lively discussion. The Last of the Mohicans, for example, can spark a wonderful discussion of Native Americans.
Theatre for students allows students to express themselves and become more self-confident in order to better prepare them for the upcoming challenges in their lives. Actors in plays, singers and musicians in concert and dancers in performances create an energy for both themselves and the audience that can only be felt “live and in person”.
Almost every classroom you go in has a T.V. And there are many educational programs that grab the interest of students. CNN Newsroom has a 15-minute commercial-free news and features program designed primarily for school use. Used with a classroom guide it features current and future events, news, business, science development, art, drama, music and literature,wildlife and more. Nickelodeon provides commercial-free programming to teachers of grades K-8 through its Cable in the Classroom block. Shows like Nick News (delivered by kids) and Mr. Wizard’s World, a science program, are noted for their ability to reach and teach children about the world.
Students want to be taught and not lectured to. As Mrs. Doubtfire (Robin Williams) said “Don’t patronize kids. Make it fun and entertaining. If you enjoy it, they’ll enjoy it.”
Edutainment has found it’s way into the mainstream with many programs available. There are many internet edutainment sights where teachers and children can go and obtain edutainment products and services including music, software, stickers, academic guides and information, kids security chat sites, coloring pages, games, theater and much more. Some internet sites are: noggin.com; teachers.nick; worldtodiscover.com; universalsounds.net; esticker.com; educateamerica.com; fen.com; ehomeroom.com; stagekids.com; etcd.com; crayoncrawler.com and many, many more.
We now know what edutainment offers: improved quality our children’s education and quality of their lives in school and out. We are now aware that edutainment programs come in many different packages. Programs can be brought into the school or experienced outside of the school. They can be planned and organized by students with the aid and supervision of a teacher, parent or guardian. If a program is fun, educational, ethical and rewarding, it will be a learning experience retained in children’s minds, and the lessons and information learned can be utilized throughout their lives.
Our children benefit by learning and we want to help them keep learning.
Following are some resources for edutainment programs:
Super Camp
To give their kids an academic edge in school and life, increasingly parents are turning to outside resources, such as Learning Forum’s unique SuperCamp. This is a fun 8-10 day summer residential program for students, ages 9-24, held on prestigious college campuses worldwide. US SuperCamps will be held this year at Stanford University, Emory University, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Colorado College, Claremont Colleges, and Hampshire College.
SuperCamp is the nation’s leading academic learning and life skills success program. Life skills courses such as Effective Communication, Building Relationships, Listening Skills, Problem Solving and an Outdoor Adventure Day improve self-esteem, develop more confidence and increase motivation. Students gain “learning-to-learn” tools that increase comprehension, retention and improve grades. Using Quantum Learning methods, students learn specific skills for success that can be applied to any subject. Students can benefit from skills courses such as: Memory, Quantum Reading, Note Taking, Test Preparation, and Quantum Writing.
Send a child to SuperCamp or bring valuable fun and learning to you. We can provide programs all the way from a full 10-day SuperCamp to a one-hour assembly. Learning Forum can also train teachers. Quantum Learning methods put joy and excitement back into the learning and teaching process, engage students’ intelligences and modalities, build rapport and open communication between teacher and student. Let us customize a program to meet your school needs.
Give us a call at 800-285-3276 or check out our website at www.supercamp.com.
Herr’s Visitor Center
At Herr’s Visitor Center, in Northingham, PA, your class, organization or family can enjoy a free, fun-filled morning or afternoon of educational tidbits, technological wizardry, and tasty treats you may savor for years to come. Herr’s, makers of snack foods, and family owned since 1946, offers this tour for free.
See for yourself how potato chips, cheese puffs, tortilla chips and pretzels are made. Here’s just a taste of what’s in store:
You’ll learn why one of the keys to a great chipping potato is its specific gravity. 1500 p.s.i. to be exact. You’ll see that cheese curls actually enjoy a lot of hot air. Warmed, soaked, washed, dried, ground, toasted and cooked to perfection. You’ll enjoy the complicated process and delicious outcome which makes Herr’s two tasty tortilla chips well-seasoned hombres. You’ll know why a pretzel without a good hydroxide bath would be a lot less crispy and not so brown.
And, says Jennifer Arrizo, Herr’s public relations director, “We can vary the tours.Teachers can request specific topics.” Arrizo says they can focus on assembly lines, jobs, agriculture, recycling, sales and more. “Sign language is offered for hearing impaired, and we have ramps and elevators for the disabled.”
Space Farms
Laurie Day, zoologist, and grand-daughter of the founder of Space Farms tells an ironic story of how this unique zoo/museum complex all began.
“My grandfather was a trapper for the state of New Jersey,” recalled Day, “to help farmers take care of predators. He would trap the animals in the spring and then put them in cages behind a garage. He planned to kill them in the winter for their fur. His son (my father) would get so attached to the animals, he convinced my grandfather to keep them. My father’s chores were to feed and care for the animals. He still works with them today,” she said.
Laurie’s brother, Parker Space and his wife also work at Space farms. “We raise all of our own grain and alfalfa so we are assured of quality feed for our animals. It’s organically grown, no pesticides are used.”
Space Farms is a multi-faceted complex with nine museum buildings created from restored barns. The museums include antique toy collections, antique car, motorcycles and bicycles, horse and buggy collections, farm tools and tractors, and antique fire arms collection. There’s a doll collection, an indoor miniature circus train set-up, Indian and Eskimo exhibits.
“We had lion cubs born here last season,” said Laurie, “We are one of the breeders of bear and lion cubs, our natural setting is conducive for breeding.”
Space Farms offers wild-life demos and discussions for classes. There’s access to many of the animals on the hundred acre farm that’s home to over 100 species and 500 animals near Sussex, New Jersey.
