When children as young as two and three years old are already facing significant gaps in their exposure to words, numbers, and spatial understanding, urban planners and child psychologists are developing ways to transform community spaces – from bus stops to supermarkets – into opportunities to augment children’s education through playful learning.
In this episode, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, senior fellow with the Brookings Center for Universal Education and co-director of the Infant & Child Lab at Temple University, and Jennifer Vey, senior fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, talk about how these “learning landscapes” help reinvigorate public spaces for the whole community.
Show notes:
- When the supermarket becomes a classroom: Building learning communities beyond the school walls
- Transforming cities into learning landscapes
- Urban Thinkscape
- Cities as classrooms: The Urban Thinkscape project
- [Video] Urban Thinkscape project: Activating public spaces for playful learning
- Project for Public Spaces
Direct download of this episode (mp3)
With thanks to audio producer Gaston Reboredo, Chris McKenna, Brennan Hoban, and Fred Dews for additional support.
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Authors
Commentary
PodcastTransforming public spaces with learning landscapes
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek,
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
Senior Fellow
- Global Economy and Development, Center for Universal Education
@KathyandRo1
Jennifer S. Vey, and
Jennifer S. Vey
Nonresident Senior Fellow
- Brookings Metro
@jvey1
Adrianna Pita
Adrianna Pita
Office of Communications
April 25, 2018