Multidimensional Learning Environments and Themes

Let's pretend that the children's area is a large one and several different hallways or areas hold children's classrooms at your church. One way to connect them all is to call these hallways "Pathways," "Adventure Halls," "the CROSSROADS," or "Paths to the KINGDOM." There are many ways of working with your space. For the sake of this article, we will refer to the hallways as "Pathways" where the smaller workshop rooms are located. Now, let's imagine what we could do with these pathways and the workshops. I have purposely not mentioned what to specifically call each room or even the Pathways so that you will not be locked into my personal titles but will instead find a creative way for your own situation.
What you will see below are different Pathways, Workshop rooms and, in general, the corresponding intelligence being enhanced by the experience the students and facilitators will have in that room.

In the first Pathway, children will climb back in time to experience the biblical story in its historical context.

In still another Pathway children will learn how to use the technology of today and the future with Christian integrity presenting the Gospel message to the outside world.

• The Computer Room allows children to find ways to memorize Scripture with a large game board, manipulatives, simple hands-on projects, the chance to play Bible Computer games, use computer software to make Bible quizzes and even write Bible curriculum themselves. This computer area can be "on-line" and allows the students access to our college students and other churches. [Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical]
• The Missions Room is a missions center and computer center where children do most of their missionary educational experience. Artifacts from our missionaries and mission organizations, along with maps, should fill this room. Wall maps are used to keep track of where missionaries are or have been. Stories from today and yesterday's missionaries are told here. The computer in this room is a designated on-line mission computer for communicating with missionaries and mission organizations. It will also be important to connect with the children of missionaries. Each age group will be given a designated number of missionary children (close to their age) to communicate with on a regular basis. [Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic]
• Radio and TV room (WCCOB) is a busy, bustling place. As the video camera rolls, children will be taping new reports about the latest reports of this Man from Nazareth who raised Lazarus from the dead; a weekly update on the trail to find the youngest brother of eight, reported dead but sightings of him have been reported in Egypt; and "God News," broadcast every Sunday. Radio dramas like "Unshackled" can be written and performed by our children as they read real life stories of people whose hearts have been redeemed by God! Talk shows and game shows with integrity can be created in this studio helping our children to use the medium for the furthering of the Kingdom of God. [Bodily-Kinesthetic, Spatial, Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic]

Another pathway is where film, video, and puppetry can be used to tell the biblical story

• Using the video/film and theater medium children watch a video, film, filmstrips, puppet performance, etc., of the Bible story (and eat popcorn). Not only are they receiving the story through this medium, this center uses the "good" aspect of this medium to teach God's Word as opposed to how the world uses it. They will also be encouraged to watch critically so as not to be overwhelmed by the media. Responding to these theatrical images through writing in a journal allows children to reflect on what they are seeing and hearing. [Spatial, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic]
• Faith Journals are kept and used as a way of giving the children time to reflect on what they have experienced. The Journals are kept in rolling files, with each child having his or her own hanging file. These journals can be kept and added to during the years children spend at the Church and can be given to them at the culmination of their Confirmation, thus outlining their own personal spiritual journey and developing relationship with Jesus Christ. [Intrapersonal, Linguistic]
• Side Trips are also possible as the children may need to visit the Solid Rock Café (the kitchen) to prepare food, or purchase items at The Marketplace, or even go to the Sanctuary for Family Worship experiences. Each week a different age group will visit a different location or workshop. At the end of four or five weeks the children will have experienced one thematic lesson in several different environments, making it much easier for them to recall the message and even have that message become part of their lives. Specific workshop leaders have the privilege of doing one lesson 4-5 times in a setting that fits their particular giftedness and interest, thus allowing for better familiarity with the story/project.

The key component to making this concept really work is being sure that each age group has a specific person or team of people who are committed to the nurture and care of the age group. These people are called SHEPHERDS (you can pick another unique title for this role that matches your particular new theme/design for Sunday School) and are people who commit themselves to "nurture" one particular age group (or one mixed age grouping) for the series of weeks (however long they wish). They have no preparation and act as an extra set of hands in each center while getting to know the children in their group more intimately. They are also responsible for summarizing what the children have experienced that day, refreshing their memories from week to week, and helping with their faith journals. They also can be asked to work on Bible verse memory, send notes and cards during the week, perhaps even phone children who have missed a few weeks in a row, remembering birthdays, etc. The Shepherd role provides the continuity that we miss and so dearly need in today's rushed society.
It is unrealistic to expect that the traditional Sunday School teacher can be "everything to everyone," so in this model we make use of individual congregational members' different GIFTS. Children are exposed to many more caring people from within their church, and the commitment fits what people can truly give in this new century. Everyone can really have fun learning in this atmosphere! So can YOU! This document is copyrighted material. Permission is given to reproduce portions of this article for nonprofit, church-related purposes only. Please keep the author's name associated with any material you copy or use. Mickie O'Donnell, MRE, *

Why This Approach?

If the traditional statistics concerning the retention of information are close to being true, we remember:

• 10% of what we READ
• 20% of what we HEAR
• 30% of what we SEE
• 50% of what we SEE and HEAR
• 70% of what we SAY
• 90% of what we SAY and DO
• 100% of what we EXPERIENCE

And since research (Search Institute, 1990) tells us that:
Only a minority of adults can demonstrate an integrated faith

• Disciples of Christ - 31%
• Evangelical Lutheran Church - 24%
• Presbyterian Church USA - 34%
• Southern Baptist Convention - 49%
• United Church of Christ - 29%
• United Methodist Church - 34%

From age 30 on - women exhibit more mature faith than men

• The majority of teens have underdeveloped faith
• Faith is least well formed among 9th and 10th grade boys

Then continuing to do Sunday school the way it has always been done will probably continue to produce biblically illiterate adults.
Thus, since educators realize that children learn best through "doing," - it only makes sense that children will retain the Bible story better when they:

• Experience the story through many points of entry
• Have their interests piqued
• Make use of multiple intelligences
• Make use of adults' spiritual gifts
• Have contact with lots of caring adults from within their church family
  

  Multidimensional/Rotational Learning Model Experiences and Environments
  make a difference in retention.

  Here's how Cliff Hagey describes what a rotation series might look like:

  	Sunday #1	Sunday #2	Sunday #3	Sunday #4	Sunday #5
  Grade 1	Audio Visual	Story Telling	Drama	Art	Computer
  Grade 2	Computer	Audio Visual	Story Telling	Drama	Art
  Grade 3	Art	Computer	Audio Visual	Story Telling	Drama
  Grade 4	Drama	Art	Computer	Audio Visual	Story Telling
  Grade 5	Story Telling	Drama	Art	Computer	Audio Visual

  The workshops listed in the rotation chart example are not the only choices for a church. Every church is unique and will naturally adapt ideas to make them fit. Sunday School Workshops encourage this (demand it!) since they are based entirely on a church's personal and physical resources. A drama workshop may sound exciting, but if a church has no one with drama skills and no available space to utilize drama as a teaching tool, it should not include drama in its repertoire of workshops. That sounds like common sense, but sometimes seeing or hearing about a particular workshop in another place can cause churches to forget the importance of a serious assessment of their own situation. (Cliff Heagy, Workshops - Overview, 1997. Used by permission)

  In the remainder of this document I will describe a possible scenario of how this model might work for a church. By using the rotational/multi-dimensional learning model it is our hope and prayer that people will come to know God more fully. We believe this happens through personal involvement in an educational process that helps to develop these eight intelligences as well as fostering each person's own proclivities in specific intelligences through an atmosphere which allows him or her to be both learner/facilitator and giver/receiver. For other possible themes for rooms and church space, contact Jan Townes Hubbard of Design Directions for Church School