Transcription:
Lee Van Roth: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. At Ypsilanti Community Schools, a new partnership with Lincoln Consolidated Schools is working to make classroom learning more hands-on, collaborative, and connected to the community students call home. Supported by a Toyota Driving Possibilities grant, the 3P Champions Collaborative Learning Initiative is designed to help students apply what they learn while giving teachers the resources and support to build on their existing work. Joining me to talk about this initiative, how it's changing classroom experiences and what it could mean for students across both districts is Kelly Mickel, director of STEM innovation for Ypsilanti Community Schools. Kelly, thank you so much for being here today!
Kelly Mickel: Thank you for having me!
Lee Van Roth: So, to start us off, can you give us a brief rundown on what 3P Champions is, how this initiative kind of came together and what are these three Ps that we're talking about?
Kelly Mickel: Okay. So, the three Ps fall under the umbrella of experiential learning, which is an approach where scholars learn by doing, investigating, solving problems, creating and reflecting on their experiences. Instead of only learning about something, they're actively applying what they learn to real-world situations. So think about the difference between reading about water runoff in a science textbook and actually walking around your school after a rainfall, observing where the water goes and designing a solution. Both involve important academic learning, but the second gives scholars an opportunity to apply that knowledge in a meaningful way.
Lee Van Roth: And why is it so important to kind of have that approach to classroom learning and be able to make those connections between using the example that you provided, reading from a science textbook and then directly applying that to something in the school building that this student is in?
Kelly Mickel: So we're not doing projects instead of teaching the curriculum. We're using meaningful experiences to bring the curriculum to life. And so, in the example that I provided, that would be an example of place-based learning. So, the scholars are really connected to their school and to their community. And so that matters to them. And so when they can connect their core content subject areas to something that matters to them, they retain that information because they understand it, because they've made meaning of it, and then being able to apply it.
Lee Van Roth: And this program is putting what the initiative calls a 3P Champion in every school building across each of these districts, both YCS and Lincoln Consolidated. What does that role look like for both the person within that role and for the students and educators in that building?
Kelly Mickel: So, the 3P Champion Model--we like to go with "model." This is not an initiative. Initiatives often come and go, and this is the way we want teaching and learning to be. And so what the 3P Champion Model is every school in both Ypsilanti Community Schools and Lincoln Consolidated Schools has one designated teacher, leader, who serves as the 3P champion. And their role is to champion the work by being a thought partner, a collaborator, a co-teacher with their colleagues in their building and helping build capacity for teachers to understand what experiential learning is, how it connects to the content and the curriculum they're teaching and how they can really bring learning to life for scholars.
Lee Van Roth: And I know that within the teaching realm in general, and it just seems like there is not a plethora of resources for teachers across the board, as far as providing these kinds of experiences, a lot of teachers are paying for these kinds of things out of pocket in order to enhance the classroom experience for each of their classes. How does this model sort of maybe provide some alleviation and provide those additional kinds of resources that folks really need?
Kelly Mickel: So, oftentimes, teachers need to get professional learning and professional development training. They have that on site now with the 3P champions being able to support that work. And then, Toyota Driving Possibilities has given us an incredible opportunity to work alongside of Lincoln Consolidated Schools, Eastern Michigan University and other community partners to strengthen STEM learning. And so, through that partnership, we have the aim of, by April 2028, each district will have created and put into practice a pre-K-12 STEM curriculum map rooted in experiential learning and connected to core academic subjects. And that's important because that's what makes it sustainable. We're building in these experiences and connecting the resources to these experiences, so that it's not one more thing to do. It's the way we do things.
Lee Van Roth: Including these other aspects to the classroom learning and these other pieces, how are we mitigating the possibility of teacher burnout and avoiding increasing the workload too much?
Kelly Mickel: That's real, and that why we call this a model, not an initiative. We don't want it to be one more thing for teachers to do. Our teachers are at the heart of this work. And through this 3P Champion Model, those teachers are supporting the classroom teachers who are trying new things in a really non-threatening, supportive way, where they are working alongside of them and helping them through it and not saying, "Oh, here. You have to do this," and then checking if they did it. They're really doing it with them.
Lee Van Roth: This is On the Ground Ypsi on 89.1 WEMU. I'm talking with Kelly Mickel about the 3P Champions Collaborative Learning Model, a partnership between Ypsilanti Community Schools and Lincoln Consolidated Schools. So, Kelly, another aspect to this program is, like you had mentioned as well, this emphasis on students learning about the problems that are happening within their communities, within their neighborhoods and figuring out solutions for them, whether that be in their school at home, outside of the home, in the community. How does combining that help them understand the practical value of that learning piece?
Kelly Mickel: It's an art, really, to develop learning where they're getting all their content to prepare them to be able to do well on the test, but really not teaching to test. We know that those kinds of standardized assessments don't truly demonstrate student learning. And so we're asking scholars to do more than just remember information. We want them to use what they learn. We want to ask questions and solve problems and create and see themselves as capable learners and problem solvers. And so this model of experiential learning really helps us dig into that. And also, we have that focus on STEM, so we're embedding STEM into core content because STEM is everywhere. And it's not just in the science lab or in robotics. It's in gardening and cooking and building and solving everyday problems like we've been talking about. So we are working to help scholars see that learning is happening everywhere, and we're working to facilitate that in a way where they're actually processing it and able to apply it.
Lee Van Roth: And we've mentioned this project--this model--is coming as a result or as a partnership with the Toyota Driving Possibilities. This is a grant-funded initiative. You have mentioned that this is with the nature of a grant. There is a timeline, unfortunately, as far as to how long you're going to be receiving funding. But this is work that is going to continue on past a grant, it seems like, or it would need to in order to be sustainable, like we've mentioned. Are there current steps or discussions happening between districts to secure that additional funding if it's needed? Once the grant runs out, what plans are there in place to promote that sustainability that we've mentioned?
Kelly Mickel: So, our Toyota Driving Possibilities partnership is ongoing, and we're talking about phase two, so that it just doesn't end in April 2028. The MiSTEM Network grant we got for the 3P Champion Model to complement the work we're doing with Toyota is just this year. But we are working towards seeking other funding sources to continue the 3P Champion model, but even without funding for it, we can still move the work forward because the expertise and the energy behind it really does come from the people.
Lee Van Roth: If potential funders maybe are listening, why is it so important to be able to put resources into a program like this, not just for the scholars, for the students, but for the educators providing that education as well?
Kelly Mickel: We want experiential learning to become the way we teach and learn, not just something special we do occasionally. And oftentimes, field trips or guest speaker experiences are exactly that. And this curriculum map that we're developing is going to build it in for each year to have an experience that's connected to their core content. And so we're going to be constantly seeking other grant opportunities to support this learning, other community partnerships to support this work. We partner with (the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition), which is a huge partner for us. They've done a lot of work in our schools in developing gardens and place-based learning opportunities. And so we're continuing to seek out partnerships. Anyone who's listening, who is interested in our community in experiential learning, please reach out to me, because there are so many opportunities to get our scholars creating and get them curious.
Lee Van Roth: Well, Kelly, I want to thank you so much for joining me here today! There are really wonderful scholars in our area, in Ypsi, and the Lincoln Consolidated School District. So, it's going to be a blast seeing what comes out from them next!
Kelly Mickel: And we definitely will be sharing all the wonderful things that our scholars are doing!
Lee Van Roth: For more on today's conversation and a link to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU Ypsilanti.
Resources:
Jenny Rose Ryan's Feature Article: Ypsi Community Schools and Lincoln Consolidated Schools collaborate on learning initiative
Ypsilanti Community Schools (YCS)
Lincoln Consolidated School District
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