Field Studies during Distance Learning: A Chance to Engage with the Broader Community

At Seabury, it is important that our students interact with experts in the fields we study. During distance learning, we have been committed to bringing in guest speakers and engaging in virtual field studies that are engaging, enhance our curriculum, and bring our students in touch with experts. We also expose the students to diverse voices and experiences by allowing them to interact with experts with different life experiences than our own.

Last spring, we committed to bringing in a community helper each week, someone who was committed to serving the community during crisis. We had a parent who makes masks, a manager at the Central Co-op, the owner of a local distillery that switched to making hand sanitizer during the days of shortages, an author who did free classroom visits and spoke about the power of stories to help people endure and survive, and a scientist who was working with the city to track the virus in sewage. 

This fall, our experts and field studies have been more closely tied to our overarching concept: The Future We Want.

Early on in the year, the students interviewed Professor Ruben Casas about public transportation, the pandemic, and park access. He recently shared that speaking with the Seabury middle school students was one of the most enjoyable moments of his year. 

That is a common theme: our students are interested and engaged. They ask meaningful questions, and they set an example for how to be professional and inclusive in public spaces, especially public digital spaces.

Ada Lovelace Day is an annual celebration of women in science, and this year, Mr. MacKenzie arranged an incredible line up of speakers who engaged the students in lectures, hands on learning opportunities, and personal narratives of overcoming bias in their fields.

University of Washington graduate students planned a community lesson on the Hanford Site and graciously allowed all of our students to participate in their lesson. The students learned about issues at the Hanford Site through a variety of lenses and worked toward solutions that took into account many perspectives. In small break out rooms, our students asked questions and offered solutions alongside adult experts. 

In early December, we worked with the Newseum, a museum that celebrates the freedom of the press, to learn about identifying bias in news articles to practice identifying bias in headlines and applying a three part system to identifying bias in actual news stories. One of the goals for our middle school students is that they become critical consumers of media and news content. Being able to identify bias is an important part of that process.

Finally, in late December, the students had the opportunity to learn from a Western Washington Stewardship Forester from the Department of Natural Resources who shared concerns of private timber owners and how to maintain healthy forests for environmental and economic benefit. The students used information from his talk to inform their own Timber projects.

We already have several field studies in the works for the coming weeks. During distance learning, these opportunities to reach out to the broader and global community have been an important part of feeling connected to the broader world. We are so proud of our students for their questions, their professional demeanor, and their engagement during these opportunities.