In order to prepare today's students for the future, educators need to move well beyond lectures and memorization and focus on building 21st-century skills, like problem-solving, collaboration, and cross-disciplinary thinking. While Holton teachers emphasize these on a daily basis, they also have unique opportunities to delve even deeper with students—for example, the Middle School's recent "Mall Crawl" Outside-the-Box Day.
On Oct. 24, students traveled downtown to spend a day exploring various sights in small groups, noting connections to their studies and ways that various disciplines and themes intersected. For example, one group visited the Carousel on the Mall and found history, technology, engineering, and math fused together there.
Another group visited the Renwick Museum and found art, science, math, technology, and music all merging. "We were surprised by how much the subjects we learn in school are used in everyday life and now realize how appreciative we should be that we have the ability to learn about it all," they reported.
"By seeing these interdisciplinary connections, girls begin to better understand the 'why' of various learning and find their school work relative to the real world," said Middle School Director Nichole Foster-Hinds.