I’ve been thinking a lot about getting dirty lately. Not just dirt alone, but our attitudes to getting dirty, both literally – getting dirt under your fingernails – and figuratively, as in really getting stuck into things, learning by doing.
I work in two different environments. One is a museum where dirt (more specifically dust) and dirtiness is the enemy. Objects are wrapped, boxed and placed in a storage shelf. White gloves are ever at the ready, stuffed into my pockets just in case I need to pick something up. Even better, don’t touch at all. This attitude of look don’t touch permeates throughout museums, applying to visitors as well with the ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ signs. At the museum I become a veritable clean freak where nothing makes me happier than knowing that the objects are being looked after.
Now to the other extreme! My other world is a community garden. Here dirt (more specifically soil) is everything. The garden is nestled amongst old industrial buildings, with much of the garden built on top of Perth’s sandy soil. Building the soil is a daily ritual. Fifteen compost heaps in total with a few large worm farms thrown in for good measure. The compost heaps are made up of shredded newspaper, grass clippings, manure, leaves and food scraps, all layered like a big lasagna, turned and watered regularly to make beautiful, rich humus.
At City Farm, I revert back to my childhood, stomping round in the dirt with no need to worry about keeping up appearances! The best part of my job facilitating workshops at City Farm is encouraging people to get dirty too. It is a hands–on learning approach with activities such as making worm farms and compost heaps. Last week I held a scavenger hunt, where kids scrambled around the garden attempting to solve riddles that led them to an object that had been recycled or reused. For example, an old basketball hoop, now used as a garden trellis for climbing plants.
I like to tell the kids that I just have one rule, and that’s that by the end of the workshop their hands must be completely covered in dirt! You would be surprised how many kids are reluctant at first, but most of them revel in the opportunity to do what they’re often told not to. Just imagine a bunch of kids, delving their hands into a worm farm, squealing with delight as they pick up wriggling worms!
We have become such a visual society, concerned with how we, our websites, exhibitions, homes, amongst other things look, that we all too often forget the simple pleasures of doing or making. As Bridget McKenzie from the blog
Cultural Interpretation and Creative Education writes:
‘What if we said that schools and other learning centres are not about learning but about making, if their purpose is not primarily to impart & test facts & skills but to make makers?’ The way I see it is even if the kids forget everything I’ve told them in their couple of hours at the garden, they may be more likely to plant a tree, recycle their rubbish or build a worm farm because they have had this experience of really getting their hands dirty.
While I might not be able to get the kids to dig up anything at the museum, with a bit of imagination we can look for new ways to ‘make makers’ at the museum as well. What did you DO at the museum today? Not what did you see. |
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