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Studio and Lab Experiences

In my mind, there are two main categories school subjects fall under: art and science.  Art embraces intuition and aesthetics while science depends on logic and reason.  Both increase our understanding of the world and our ability to think and as such, both are invaluable to learning.

In any system of education, I believe students should have experiences in both a studio and a lab setting.  The studio setting allows learners to create, receive and give critiques, and incrementally improve their work.  The lab setting allows learners to experience the scientific method firsthand as they hypothesize, test their hypotheses, and record their discoveries.  No education should be considered complete without both kinds of experiences.  Such settings also allow learners to work closely with and observe experts, absorbing the vocabulary and dispositions of both fields.

I also believe it will be natural for certain students to prefer one environment over the other.  And, these learners will have the latitude to pursue increasingly complex situations in either setting.  It will also be interesting to see if any Da Vinci type learners emerge, meaning those who perform well in and enjoy both art and science.

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