Kids create ‘new human habitat

ASAP!’s Metamorphosis Project is an immersive learning experience that brings together art, science, and imagination. This fall, Children’s Community School third, fourth and fifth grade classes worked with artists Jason Killinger and Jenna Robb to imagine and design a neighborhood that could be built in a deciduous forest. Students exercised their science knowledge to create a new human habitat that meets their individual and community needs — without harming the life and ecosystem that already exists there. After visiting the deciduous forest at Flanders Nature Center, they drafted their ideas on paper, built models of their final designs, and installed the ‘neighborhood’ in their school. The Metamorphosis Project integrates academic learning with art practices, aiming to deepen learning and support whole-picture thinking, creative problem-solving, and the development of social-emotional capacities. The project was funded in part by grants from the Connecticut Community Foundation, The Breaking the Cycle Foundation, and the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation.