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Design the Perfect School

Work in small groups to design the perfect school. What is awesome about school? What could use a fresh perspective? Everyone will design their perfect school, even if that may look something like Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Think about the issues and challenges that some students face in their education, how can young minds work together to solve these issues? For example, what kind of environment is school? How accessible is school? What should be taught?

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Plan

  • Do you have all the materials ready?  
  • What do I know about schools around the world? 
  • Are there videos I can watch before this adventure so ensure I feel equipped to discuss education? 
  • What environment do you learn best? 

Do

  • On your own or in small teams, imagine you are redesigning the education system. This might be like your current system, or completely different. Create a mind map (see resources) of all the different ideas you have, answering these questions:
    • What would you teach and how? 
    • Who would you teach? 
    • Would there be rules? 
    • How would you know if your system was working? 
  • Now imagine you are trying to convince the world that they should adopt your new education system. How could you describe it in a way that persuades people?
    • Name: What do you call your education system? 
    • Motto: A short, catchy phrase to describe it. 
    • Values: A few words you think are most important e.g. freedom, intelligence, trust. 
    • Summary: Describe your education system in two sentences. 
    • Logo: Draw / design a logo to represent your system. 
  • When you have all these elements, share them with your group or family to see what they think.  
  • Draw and explain your ‘perfect’ school and compare to the schools that many children attend around the world.  

Review

  • What was your favourite part about this activity?    
  • What environment helps you to learn best? How did you include that in your new school? 
  • Do you think that learning/school looks like this for everyone across the world?
  • Remember to submit your activities on our Scouts for Sustainability Take Action Map

Materials

  • Paper 
  • Markers  

Keep it Simple

  • Work together as one group to collectively answer the activities guiding questions. Create one large mind map and then have youth individually produce a drawing with the motto and logo.  
  • Alternatively, you could draw your perfect classroom. What would go in it, what would you learn there? etc. 

Take it Further

  • Take the conversation further and deepen your understanding of education around the world. How does education help society work? Check out some young activists such as Malala Yousafzai, Muzoon Almellahan and Mohamad Al Jounde.