Learning ecosystems exist all around us, the goal of LENE is to surface and connect them in order to strengthen the learning pathways for youth. Paul from Discovery Museum in Acton Massachusetts set out to do just that. He started reaching out to local educators interested in outdoor education for early childhood and elementary aged youth to gauge their interest in connecting their local learning ecosystem and to see who amongst them might be excited to share leadership of the group. After bringing those folks together for their first in-person gathering, two educators quickly volunteered to help plan and host sequential meetings, a clear sign that the group was already seeing the value in this work and were interested in devoting a little extra time and energy toward developing and sustaining it.
As energy began to build the group requested an additional summer session so they could continue to share experiences and practical tips to keep young people engaged and safe from things like poison ivy, ticks and thunderstorms. Educators from various learning contexts collaborated, exchanged ideas, and began working together independently outside of the quarterly in-person gatherings, strengthening the learning ecosystem connections. One example of this is with Merriam Elementary school, where youth did a project on endangered species that was later exhibited at the Discovery Museum. There are further talks of bringing in Danny’s Place Youth Services as a third partner to co-create a larger-scale, semi-permanent youth created exhibit.
As the group began meeting regularly in 2024, a few positive things began to emerge fairly organically. Their conversations tended to focus on what they’re working on and what activities they’re thinking about and collective enthusiasm for hearing new ideas and thinking about slight adjustments to tried and true activities. These conversations often lead into collaborative troubleshooting, whether it’s the challenges of running outdoor programming, or designing programming for multi-age, multi-generational audiences. Each meeting we see folks reflect on how they are feeling inspired by ideas and looking forward to trying them out in their programs.
