Expensive Experience

Although Keenan's article mostly focused on student voice and storytelling, I'm struck by how expensive it is to provide students with the opportunity and enrichment from which they can develop their own stories and questions about the world. It is clear that she sees the value in experiential activities like mueseums as well as using technoogy (computers and flip cams) in her room. To do so, however, Keenan needs to spend time and energy finding funding or discounts through websites like Donors Choice. When we think about "culture" within school or neighborhood communities, economic class and disparities play a role in how the educational experiences for students might differ. While there is nothing better or worse about a class that can afford one butterfly versus one that can afford many butterflies (hypothetical scenario), the experiences for the students in these two classrooms would clearly differ. One lesson might focus more on teamwork in science, while the other lesson could more easily address the anatomy of a butterfly since there would be plenty of butterflies to observe.