Metamorphosis Project

Courses for integrative learning.

The Metamorphosis Project is a response to the crisis of meaning in today’s schooling. Students need joyful, eye-opening experiences that make learning itself an exciting and urgent prospect. This project is a student-centered course imbued with a felt sense that each idea, conversation, and creation is vital.

Client
ASAP!

Collaborators
Jason Killinger

Disciplines
Teaching/education
Art, engineering, science, civics,
& SEL integration
Teacher instruction

Location
Waterbury, CT
& Torrington, CT

Year
2014-present

How it works

The Metamorphosis Project is an immersive, hands-on program integrating the creative process with academic learning. Students are co-creators of their learning environment, leading the way to discovery at the intersection of multiple topics. We engage classroom teachers in a development session which allows us to build a responsive program that meets the unique needs and challenges of each student group.

Fall 2022: A New Neighborhood

Students were tasked with imagining and designing a neighborhood that could be built in a deciduous forest. Their challenge was to create a network of structures and transportation that meets their individual and community needs without harming the life and ecosystem that already exists there. 

The course:

  • 1. We studied natural habitats, futuristic designs, & our needs

  • 2. Students sketched ideas which addressed one or more needs

  • 3. On a field trip, we experienced being in a local deciduous forest

  • 4. Students observed the sounds, colors, shapes, & systems there

  • 5. Back in the classroom, designs were put on paper

  • 6. Class critiques helped students finalize their designs

  • 7. Designs were inspired by observations from the forest

  • 8. They built and painted models out of found materials

  • 9. The models were installed all together into a neighborhood

The agreements

Students access deep, joyful learning when there is a strong base of shared expectations and trust. We honor each student’s lived experience, unique creative spirit, and wisdom by: 1.) meeting students at the entrance to the learning space, and greeting them one at a time, 2.) co-creating a class agreement and referencing it throughout the project, 3.) pausing to explore questions and share, and 4.) practicing student-led conflict resolution and class-wide direct empathy and kindness.

Spring 2021: Look, Build, Play

After a year of the pandemic, we wanted to offer a hands-on, collaborative, open-structure experience out of school.  We tasked 3rd-6th graders with building a fort at a local nature preserve, knowing the project held opportunities to study traditional building methods, use hand tools, explore outdoors, and co-create a magical space for the community.

The course:

  • 1. We studied local indigenous building techniques, and categorized building materials by property.

  • 3. Students illustrated imaginal dwellings of their own as an exercise to stay in the creative realm.

  • 5. On a hike, we observed the creatures and habitats, and noted potential building materials

  • 6. Students practiced using hand and power tools, and we planned out our build

  • 7. They split themselves into two groups: foragers who cut and gathered (nothing alive, of course!)...

  • 8. ...and builders who measured, attached, and built the walls and roof of the fort

  • 9. We had some help from big machinery to put the larger pieces in place

  • 10. The final fort had multiple rooms and entrances including a tunnel

2022 Metamorphosis Project photos by Zakiyah Scaramuzzino

2021 Metamorphosis Project photos and video by Joshua Bibbey