Contemporary Education Complex of Kalapana

                                                                                  Prospectus

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        What is a school? Our personal definition... A place, indoors or out, where one person teaches another or several others. A school, at one time, was a single room structure, with desks, maybe electricity, and a devoted instructor who loved the idea of helping young, impressionable minds, explore and grow. Now most schools are businesses, based on budgets and guidelines, restricting teachers from using their individually unique expertise, and inhibiting the student's potential to learn outside of the cookie cutter, mass produced curriculum and standardized testing requirements. 

                                                                               

                                                                       What is C.E.C.K?

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        What the Contemporary Education Complex of Kalapana is proposing, is a completely free, education model, by taking advantage of recent advances in renewable energy, and audio/visual technology, paired with parent/faculty co-op, and work trade volunteering, or internship. The campus will be a unique design consisting of 7 geodesic domes, with the inner dome being the largest and serving as The Hub, much like the hub to the struts of a geodesic configuration. The Hub will be utilized as a lecture hall, lunch room and gathering/meeting area. Under the Hub will be the Power Center, which will collect and distribute the power gained from each source, either solar, wind or hydro electric. We are currently in the production phase of a clear-poly geodesic dome cover which will contain triangular solar cells, in series and parallel to produce approximately 1.5kw of electricity. Wind will be essential as well, complimenting our solar array via three-phase AC to AC grid tie inverter.  'What if there is a rainy day with limited PV and wind?', you might ask. To remedy this common occurrence in tropical climates, we are designing a dual chamber downspout for our catchment system which contains several Ecopower "Slingshot", DC brushless motors, to provide a hydro-gravity driven, electric generator to tend the battery bank. The bank will be either 8, 200 AH gel, deep-cycle batteries, or a Tesla Power Wall 2 if the budget allows. Our water source will be provided either by rain catchment, or well system which will be desalinated and purified. Rain will hit the dome and disperse down the sides into a gutter system which feeds the downspout to the catchment, and hopefully, also produces electricity.

                So, we've discussed power, now let's talk about architecture. You already know the structures will be domes, but what about the layout. First, we chose geodesic domes because of their durability, practicality, and cost effectiveness. We will be purchasing the domes or kits either from a company in Tennessee (Zip-tie Domes), or from Shenzhen Tent company in China. The platforms will be made from 4x4 posts, pier blocks and 12ft, 2x12 lumber or wood composite. Each deck will be suspended 7 ft (with the exception of the observatory deck, which will be slightly higher), and connected  by bridges. Each dome platform will have two 5x9x6 sleeping quarters, under the dome, for resident, work-trade volunteer guides, and will include a closet, desk, lamp, and of course a bed. There will be two showers, one indoor, and one outdoor, and two bathrooms. All of the domes serve a particular purpose. You are familiar now with The Hub Dome. Another three will be Teaching Domes, divided up by grade level grouping, K-2, 3-5, and 6-8, offering grade level appropriate, educational decor to compliment the learning experience. There will be a green-house dome, or Earth Dome which will be dedicated to teaching horticulture and supplying at least part of the nutrition conscious diet that will make up the lunches for students. The other parts will consist of fishing and foraging, which are in great abundance on the Island of Hawaii.  The sixth dome will be the Healing Dome, which will house first aid necessities, both orthodox and holistic, and it will also serve as our administration office and counseling center. And the final dome will be the Sky Dome/ The D.H. Wilson Observatory, and it will act, not only as our observatory, but also serve as a traditional library and recreation center offering a 12" Wi-fi Dobsonian telescope, transmitting the image to Vuzix glasses which we will discuss in a moment. It will also be home to wi-fi microscopes, magnetic levitating chess boards and globes, a digital library with tablets guests can check out, and video game consoles. Yes, video games. 

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                                                                          The Curriculum 

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C.E.C.K.(pronounced Seek(hard C, Long E)), will offer a new style of teaching, incorporating what we like to call Neotrivium combined with V-Rote. Let's first discuss V-Rote.

 

         

                                                                                  V-Rote

       When my husband and I were discussing the school early on in our relationship, he told me about a teaching tool he was developing, which he called V-Rote. My first impression on hearing the title was that it wasn't fun to say, and it made no sense, but as he continued on, passionately describing this Encyclopaedia Galactica, the more it made sense to me and the school began to evolve. 

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       V-Rote offers rapid, rote style lessons, on various subjects ranging from elementary Grammar and Mathematics to Law and Medicine. The lesson files will be viewed by way of Vuzix Corporation glasses, offering the student complete immersion in their studies, while maintaining their attention and eliminating distractions. Rote has been considered an ineffective manner of teaching if based solely on this technique. It doesn't take into account reasoning, or perspective, nor does it allow for rhetoric, and that is where Neotrivium comes in, which we will explain shortly. It does, however, commit to memory, facts that will be forever useful in the child or adult's journey through a life of learning. Rote is repetitious, tedious, a bore... for the teacher and the student. (It's actually used as a punishment. 100 times on the board...)

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      With evolving technology, comes adaptation and useful application. Now, instead of flash cards we have video frames and within those frames we can place pictures, text and lay audio over. In the 1950's there were few televisions, no video games, and no internet. It was a time remembered as wholesome, fun loving, play outside 'til dinner for most children. They would go to school, usually by bus, walking or parents, much like today. They would go into class, sit down and listen to an instructor speak much like today. So other than the very limited amount of tech funding that slips onto the budget, schools have generally taught in the same fashion for nearly a hundred years. The main differences we see, are that classes are now much larger, students just don't want to pay attention and teachers are being overwhelmed and underpaid.  

      What effect has our exposure to television, video games, and the internet had on our ability to take in information? William said, that he began thinking about V-Rote when he was in a directing class at Fullsail in Orlando. He was instructed that when editing for film or TV, you usually have to incorporate quick cuts into your scenes or you lose the audience' interest. (a quick cut is going from one shot to the next, then a wide rapidly)  Today, you can see quick cuts in everything from commercials, to shows, and films. And as film technology improves, the fast pace and heavy action increases. Compare 1950's Mr Ed, with 2015 The Force Awakens. Think about a scene from that movie, how detailed and how much information a person can take in from one single shot of a scene. For the past several decades, our brains have been adapting to the quick progression of the visual arts, conditioning and allowing us to take in stimulus at a much faster rate, with a higher retention level than our 1950's counterparts. Add 3D technology to the mix and it's a whole other ball game. Taking this factor into account, V-Rote will pack as much information into 3 seconds of footage as it can, then go to the next piece of information. An example would be the presidents. Washington- a picture of George Washington comes up, you see his name in text, you audibly hear his name, and it cycles to Adams, then Jefferson and so on. It will cycle through for 15 minutes in this fashion, at which time the student will remove their Video Eye wear, and write down on a tablet what information they retained. That will last for five minutes. The final ten minutes of the 30 minute session will consist of the guide asking each student to read aloud what they wrote down, and the guide will in-turn, write their responses on the smart board for everyone to read. C.E.C.K feels that this will be an effective routine, due to the quadruple reinforcement in that 30 minute time frame. After the 30 minute V-Rote lesson, will be a 30 minute free learning session, at which time the students can play chess, do "follow-up" work, or play positive, skill enhancing video games, such as a flight simulator, or a role-playing game.

               Video games have gotten such a bad rap for so long, we're glad to see they are beginning to receive recognition for the more positive benefits they are capable of. Like all technology, video games have evolved, and boy did they. Remember Atari? A joy stick and one button. Now children as young as five are manipulating complex controllers with 6 buttons, 4 triggers, and 3 directional controls, with hundreds of possible configurations, all while maintaining attention to the screen which they are governing at a nearly uncontrollable pace. Neuroscientist, Daphne Bavelier, offered a  great Ted Talk regarding her research into the effects playing video games has on the human brain. She busted several, very popular myths regarding the negative effects, and had lab research to prove it. However,  there is a commonly overlooked aspect to playing video games. The use of both hands.         

             When playing most games, the player uses both hands to control what we've already established is a quite complex device. Using both hands simultaneously in activities such as juggling and playing the piano, have shown to benefit and exercise what is known as the Corpus Collosum. The bond between the two hemispheres of the brain. People with well developed corpus collosums tend to incorporate logic and problem solving, mixed with creativity and art, more efficiently into their learning and over all lifestyle. In short, they can creatively and logically solve problems much like Mcguyver. Now, imagine the neural transfer that must take place throughout the Corpus Collosum, in just a one hour period of playing video games, due to the use of both hands simultaneously. Well, we intend to not only promote this variable, but add to it by having students write with their left hand one day, then their right the next in an effort to compliment the exercise that takes place from video games, and eventually enable them to have better control over both hands throughout life, instead of being right or left hand dominant. 

            So we discussed television, and video games. What about the internet? Instead of walking to the library and checking out a book on any given subject, we have a thousand libraries of various thoughts and opinions, hundreds of virtual art museums, a music library from around the world; there is no limit to the cornucopia of knowledge a person can access via the web. Ease of access, and the rate in which we can take in stimulus has increased, and V-Rote capitalizes on this evolving capability by offering an entire, fact filled database of video files, designed to transmit the subject matter at a customized pace that best suits the student. By C.E.C.K.'s opening, January 1st, 2018, V-Rote will contain over 100 lesson plans pertaining to various subjects, with great emphasis being given to Grammar and Arithmetic V-Rote files, so as to be prepared for the fresh incoming student body and help to prepare them for Neotrivium.

 

                                                                          Neotrivium

                              

                   The Trivium has been in use, and shown effectiveness in regards to teaching, since the times of Ancient Greece, however, it didn't receive it's title until approximately the middle ages. It is the foundation for what is commonly known as the 7 liberal arts. According to the principles of the Trivium, if one is sound in Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric and given the appropriate tools, they could effectively teach themselves throughout their lives. Grammar is the mastery of any given language. It is the mechanics of communication, and allows us to properly speak, and comprehend what is heard or read. Logic pertains to the mechanics of thought and analysis when you digest new found information. It helps to differentiate between fact and fiction, and 2016 showed us that far too many people world wide suffer from an inability to distinguish the two. The third, Rhetoric; the ability to convey your knowledge to others in an attempt to either teach or learn from discussion. This is not only very important in the learning process, it is advanced and should only be used when proficient in first Grammar, then Logic. The reason for this, is if you attempt to communicate what you've learned, without first being capable of grammar and logic, then you run the risk of not processing the info properly and communicating the misinformation to someone else. Now, remember that the trivium is only effective if given the appropriate tools. In Greece, around the conception of the trivium, the tools were the minds of scholars, and the occasional tablet. One of today's tools is the internet, but there are aspects regarding this source of information, that calls for revisions to be made to the classical teaching style.

       

                Strong grammar is essential when attempting to wade through the copious amounts of information to be found on the internet. Being able to ask a search engine the proper question, or being able to read all of the available sources quickly yet efficiently is of the utmost importance. The first V-Rote file the students will be exposed to will be the dictionary, or at least our version of it. It is a compilation of the 100 most used words of each letter in the English alphabet. This will begin their grammar focus and set the foundation to incorporate their rapidly growing vocabulary into their quest for knowledge via the internet. As we had mentioned earlier, there will be follow up work, much like home work but can be done at home or on campus. Follow up work will consist of the student researching online, one thing from each lesson plan viewed during the day, which should total six V-Rote sessions and write something they didn't previously know. Each student will be issued a tablet that will contain only V-Rote files, learning apps, and downloads of content from informational sites pertaining to subject matter. Their follow up work will be graded based on the amount of factual data contained within, and appropriate citation. They will be taught to use logic when choosing a site to reap information from. A photo meme of Darth Vader, that reads 'Michael Jordan, the badminton player of the year' is not only illogical, but completely absurd. A meme of Charles Manson, that reads 'post this picture of Jesus' is a little trickier. Once again, our tool is no longer the amassed intellect of a scholar, whom the consensus has deemed credible as a source of knowledge. Our quick source for data is a beautiful, but tangled web and if you can't competently navigate your way through, you will get stuck. We intend to instill a routine in each student that will reinforce the need to check and double check source and compare with the other available outlets for information pertaining to the subject at hand. It's no longer the accidental publication of misinformation we have to gauge; people are intentionally being deceptive online and a firm understanding of technology (the tool), and a reasonable grasp of discerning fact from fiction, can help a person avoid the pitfalls the web has to offer. The third path of Neotrivium, is rhetoric as it applies to internet applications. Most websites, especially news websites, have comment sections. They can be even more treacherous, than the web itself. It's easy to get wrapped up in a heated debate, online. But why do arguments occur? Because two people, or more, have a similar topic of interest, yet conflicting views regarding the truth. No one wants to be wrong and I've seen people, fight tooth and nail, having already been proven wrong simply because of pride. Then comes the name calling. And the cursing.                                                                            

           When it is time for a C.E.C.K. student to engage in rhetoric, they will be prepped in web interaction etiquette, and will not take part in aggressive back and forth with other participants in the forum. This will ensure maximum benefit achieved when utilizing the internet as a means to discuss new found knowledge.       If you have any questions about either V-Rote, or Neotrivium, please contact us through our website www.V-Rote.com .

 

                                                                          Faith at C.E.C.K

 

           The Contemporary Education Complex does not promote, or show bias towards one particular faith, and religion will not be included in the K-8 curriculum. However, we do not discriminate against any religion, race, gender, gender identity, or handicap. Monday through Friday, C.E.C.K. will offer academia to anyone, by appointment, for free, and a trained, volunteer guide, will sit with and help the CECKer explore every avenue, of any subject. While, as previously mentioned, we do not endorse or promote any particular sect of religion, Saturdays and Sundays will be dedicated to offering the campus to individuals who wish to come and learn about any faith, or spiritual concept (by appointment). Tablets will be provided offering digital religous texts of all faiths, so an individual has access to the necessary knowledge required to properly follow a particular religion. We will, however, be placing great emphasis on the Hawaiian culture, which does have tight spiritual overtones. Bringing us to our next topic. 

 

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                                                                          Why Kalapana? 

 

        If you were sitting in my seat, in this moment, you wouldn't have to ask. To my left is a vast, fertile lava field, followed by a brilliant blue ocean. Directly in front of me, is a thick, green jungle that was spared by Pele during her last journey through Kalapana. And to my right, I can see Pele in action, snaking down a vibrant Kilauea to meet her old friend Kanaloa, so that together, new earth is formed. This area of the Big Island offers so many opportunities to explore geology, marine-biology, astronomy, and a cultural aloha spirit that can be found nowhere else on earth.  Will this model thrive in a different location, say Seattle? Probably not. C.E.C.K. was designed taking into account many factors including but not limited to, geographic location, need, climate, and once again the aloha spirit that will ensure that volunteers will be in abundance (side note on design-because of the unpredictable nature of Pele's will, C.E.C.K. is designed so that every component can be taken apart and moved to another location, limiting the risk of total loss should one of her fingers start reaching out to us... but we think she will leave us be) . As renewable energy technology progresses though, the reality of a self perpetuating, volunteer ran, micro-school model will become possible in any location. 'Will all Contemporary Education Complex's be the same?' No. Each C.E.C. will incorporate aspects of the native culture, found at that geographic location.  This Complex will be in Hawaii and we encourage the local citizens to take part in this journey so that after 3 years, and proven success we can leave the campus to the community and build another at a different location. We especially hope they take advantage of the observatory and rejuvenate the sacred importance the night sky holds with the people.  

                                                    

                                                                              Closing

 

               The Contemporary Education Complex of Kalapana is an experimental, private, non-profit, micro-school. And we take the term, non-profit seriously. No one on staff will take a salary, including William and myself, and every charitable donation will be put towards C.E.C.K, with documentation available through our website. Are we attempting to automate education and put teachers out of work? Most certainly not. Our intention is to help decompress an education system that is filled with devoted hearts and minds, so that they can put to better use the limited budgets each school has at their disposal, and allow for more individualized focus to be placed on each student. We see teachers' blogs, they are making less than minimum wage when taking into account the home time they devote to their class. We hear the desperation. It is our hope that some of what is listed here in the prospectus will be put to use within the education system, and a few students here, a few students there, will hopefully add up to alleviate some of the weight that is resting on our educators shoulders. We also intend to work closely with each location's DOE, in order to ensure that each C.E.C.K. student at least meets the standard level of education as required by the state. Is this a perfect model for free education? No, but as time passes, we will strive to gain a better perception of knowledge's relationship with technology, and constantly learn how to become better educators. If you find anything of value in this prospectus, and wish to duplicate it or incorporate it in some way to benefit humanity, then please... Stop reading now, and go do it. 

                                                               

                                                     Is this a highly ambitious endeavor? Yes.

                                                                     

                                                         Will it be successfully accomplished?

                                                                               

                                                                                    YES!                                                  

                                                                                      

                                                                    Will YOU be a part of it?

 

Mahalo!,

Kate L. Brown 

C.E.C.K. Administrative Director