Our Goals as Materials Educators
We think it’s important to share the environmental and educational goals that underlie all our work with materials. We’re always thinking about them in every moment of our work -- from planning to practice to reflection, and they guide (explicitly and implicitly) all of our choices.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in 2017 the average American generated 4 ½ pounds of waste each day. 25% of that was recycled, and 10% was composted. Something else to consider as you let those figures sink in: with 4% of the world’s population, the US generates more than 30% of the world’s waste. Not to mention that much of what goes into recycling bins is not actually recycled for a myriad of reasons (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-landfills-plastic-papers.html; https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/09/20/how-to-recycle-plastic). We feel an urgent need to increase awareness of, access to, and use of materials that usually end up in trash or recycling. By collecting, curating and working with found materials, we prolong the life of single use items in significant ways, and teach others (teachers, parents and children) to do the same.
At the same time, we seek to raise awareness about the over-production and waste of materials. In most cases, we do not teach this directly but see it developing on its own. Over time, as children collect and work with found materials, they can start to realize the scale of what is usually discarded or recycled, and often this realization is accompanied by a desire to engage in some kind of social action (individually, with their family or classroom, or even beyond).
We believe in the power of having children’s ideas lead. Fostering this kind of open ended learning enhances creativity, problem-solving skills, focus, engagement, collaboration and joy -- all things that children and the world need more of, now more than ever.
When we open our eyes to the beauty in the mundane, the world changes. We slow down, need less external stimulation, have more room to think and create from an internal perspective, and change our consumption patterns. In our experience, this is not a didactic, prescriptive process. Instead it feels light and joyful, full of space and possibilities.
When children and adults find utility, possibilities and beauty in something that we’re used to seeing thrown out or recycled, the joy of collecting is ignited. There’s a kind of built-in gratitude practice in this part of the work that has benefits even beyond the educational and environmental realms.
