The pandemic raised all sorts of discussion about “needs.” Several media outlets latched onto the idea of “learning loss.” In the “learning loss” discourse, need justifies all sorts of draconian curriculum decisions. “It’s what our kids need.” Need, however, relies on preconceived ideas. Someone always needs something. Instead, asking “what might curriculum do now?” turns attention toward the speculative, the unknown, the potential. The Curriculum Lab is an ongoing experiment with what curriculum might do today.
[Photo by DJ Johnson on Unsplash]
During the pandemic, togetherness became a threat to bodily integrity. In the midst of all this, the Curriculum Lab experimented with finding new ways of being together. There has never been a better time to experiment with new ways of togetherness. The planet is beset by climate disruption that renders old ways of togetherness untenable. A stark rise in international fascism strives to divide, isolate, and rule. And, a pandemic rendered conventional forms of togetherness a threat. What are we to do? Fortunately, we do not need to know what to do in order to experiment. The Curriculum Lab is an ongoing experimentation with togetherness.
[Photo by Elizabeth McDaniel on Unsplash]
The Curriculum Lab is a “lab” because it involves experimentation, and these experiments revolve around curriculum and togetherness. Early in its history, the Curriculum Lab experimented with togetherness in field trips, walks, and museum visits. During the pandemic, the experimental togetherness shifted, often to Zoom. Like any technology, Zoom has limitations. For example, it’s frontal, requiring a performance that contorts the body to maintain attention within a box on a screen. It carries traces of a narrow conception of conversation, evident in the dampening of voices talking over one another. Rather than discard Zoom, the Curriculum Lab experimented with it. As the size of the group grew, the Lab experimented with different approaches to small group participation. Over time, the Lab settled into a habit that seemed to work. Throughout the year, participants in the Lab experimented with the affordances of technologies like Zoom. For example, the “Museum of Troubling Inheritances” used Zoom and Padlet to invite participants to create their own museum (https://padlet.com/sam2327/zm6giriia18gfjql).
[Photo by Chase Baker on Unsplash]
While the pandemic provided provocation for experimentation with technology, just as before the pandemic, the Curriculum Lab continued to experiment with togetherness. Each week brought together a slightly different ensemble. Even if the same people attended, they entered the Lab slightly different. Added to this shifting ensemble, each week included a different topic of discussion. And, what’s more, each week came with different moment, tenor, zeitgeist, mood, or feeling. As the world around the Lab shifted, so did the constellation within the Lab. Each week brought with it a new experiment in togetherness. In a world of loneliness and despair, the Curriculum Lab experiments to create new ways of coming together around curriculum to see what else it might do now.