Educators, businesses, and researchers agree: today’s students require a new set of skills to thrive as productive citizens. They need to be digitally literate, creative, critical thinkers who can communicate in a variety of mediums and collaborate well with others, and they need to be able to work across subject disciplines to solve real-world problems. Preparing students for jobs and circumstances we cannot yet imagine means that we must prepare them to be lifelong, nimble learners.
The kind of learning that supports this growth is hands-on, experiential, and student-centered. More often than not, it looks different than the kinds of learning many parents and caregivers experienced when they were in school. What if there was a way to work with families to experience, understand, and advocate for this kind of learning with their children? What if there was a way to galvanize an entire community to champion and celebrate it?
That’s just what people have been doing in the greater Pittsburgh region for the past few years as part of the annual Remake Learning Days. What began in Pittsburgh in 2016 has now expanded to new regions across the country, through a partnership with Remake Learning, PBS Kids, and Digital Promise. The initiative is generously supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Grable Foundation, and Schmidt Futures.
Where to find Remake Learning Days Across America events in your region
Remake Learning Days Across America (RLDAA) is a festival of experiential learning events for youth and their families in regions across the country. Events are hosted by a variety of organizations, such as schools, museums, libraries, community centers, and more. Activities are designed to be hands-on, relevant, and engaging, giving kids and caregivers an opportunity to experience future-facing learning together. These events are a celebration of innovative experiences in a region for youth to develop their sense of creativity, perseverance, and curiosity.
Events are categorized into seven areas:
Categories of Remake Learning Days Across America events
RLDAA events will be held across nine regions this spring:
- Remake Learning Days – Eastern KY: April 12–20, 2019
- Remake Learning Days – Knoxville, TN: April 15–20, 2019
- Remake Learning Days – Southwestern PA: May 9–19, 2019
- Remake Learning Days – West Virginia: May 9–19, 2019
- CHA Learning Days (Chattanooga, TN): May 11–18, 2019
- Remake Learning Days – Southeastern PA: May 15–24, 2019
- Remake Learning Days – CHI: May 16–19, 2019
- Triangle Learning Days (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill NC): May 17–18, 2019
- Remake Learning Days – Northeast OH: May 15–19, 2019
In addition to these region-wide events, organizations across the country will be hosting “pop-up” events through June as part of RLDAA. Pop-up events can be held in any region at any time, and they can be existing or already planned events! (Learn more about hosting an event during RLDAA in one of the nine regions here. Learn more about hosting a pop-up event anywhere, anytime here.)
The value of Remake Learning Days Across America
These region-wide events are a celebration of learning in the community with long-lasting impact. RLDAA helps parents and policymakers become stronger advocates for 21st century learning. It also helps surface all the varied learning opportunities for youth in a region—both in school and out of school—to foster long-term engagement. And perhaps most importantly, RLDAA brings people and communities together.
One of the things we love most about Remake Learning Days is that it strengthens—or catalyzes—regional ecosystems, or what we call Education Innovation Clusters (EdClusters). Several EdClusters in Digital Promise’s network across the country are participating in the 2019 Remake Learning Days Across America. Together, these regions are discovering how RLDAA can:
- Galvanize communities around innovative learning experiences for youth
- Help parents in understanding the nature and value of 21st century learning
- Build awareness of experiential learning opportunities for youth in a region
- Spark curiosity and learning for youth
- Inspire advocacy for more experiential learning in schools
- Support relationships between youth and their caregivers and between communities and learning organizations
- Connect host organizations and participants to a national movement to Remake Learning
How you can get involved in Remake Learning Days Across America
There are several ways for organizations and individuals to get involved in RLDAA.
