Charleston Learning Center

a small safe and welcoming community of learners, creators, dreamers

Home: Welcome

We are a small diverse and friendly community where students feel safe to explore, create, connect and learn. At Charleston Learning Center we offer classes, workshops, tutorials, creative labs, engineering challenges every week. All members also get invitations to all trips, parties and special events. All activities are elective and participants find their own right balance between structured and unstructured time. For example, a teen who chose to take a chemistry class, may not feel at the moment like performing experiments with the facilitator - s/he may opt instead for using a VR set to visualize molecules and then build the molecules with Snatoms, or to play a board game like Valance Plus, Periodic or Compounded, or work on a Periodic table puzzle or flip through the pages of Elements and Molecules books or read a Chemistry graphic novel. According to a number of studies students' engagement level is the best predictor of learning success. And the proven way to foster students' engagemnt is by providing a playful and safe environment filled with meaningful attractive activities. Why so many games? Dr. Karyn Purvis, co-founder of the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University, stated that it takes about 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain unless it is done with play, in which case it takes only 10-20 repetitions! Our collection boasts over a hundred of overtly educational games covering various concepts in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Geography, History, Ecology, Anatomy, and Physiology among other disciplines. We also have a vast collection of just-for-fun games we play during our social events because board games help develope important next-generation skills that correlate with career success more than academic achievement including executive functions like strategic reasoning, cooperation, negotiation tactical planing. Indeed children who play games like Catan and Carcassonne or Agricola are reportedly more aware and analytic about changing the environment, more conscious about strategic resource allocation and diversification and better at spacial reasoning.

Home: About Us

Charleston Learning Center's basic membership includes:

4 classes a month covering topics in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Computer Science, History, Mythology, Engineering, Design, Drama, Civics, Rhetoric.... reflecting interests of the participants, facilitators, and volunteers

invitation to a weekly social event organized by facilitators, volunteers or members - a field trip, hike, board game or nerf tournament, D&D session, creative lab, engineering challenge or a costume party planned by teens with a tween DJ (sometimes these social events are open to non-member guests, often for a fee)

discount on private lessons for middle and high school math and science and tutoring sessions AP, CLEP

Home: Mission

What We Believe

We believe every child and teen needs a safe welcoming community in which to create, collaborate, inspire and support each other. We also understand how important it is for the place to have just the right environment, and that is what we keep all classes small and intimate - always under 10 participants so that every student has time and space to perform all the experiments and engage in all the activities, to ask all the questions s/he wants, as many times as it takes. Every week in addition to a class, we host an event designed to foster the sense of community and develop an emotionally safe environment conducive to individual growth, experimentation, and collaboration. Individual lessons and tutoring sessions in well-aligned groups of 2-3 students to helps each of them feel they are moving closer to their goals. A group of adults can decide that all 7th graders must learn area and circumference of circles, but when it comes to each individual child’s genuine understanding and retention, we can’t actually make it happen or guarantee that it will happen. As adults, what we can do, however, is try to make things possible for young people—provide access, offer opportunities, figure out what kind of support will be most helpful, do whatever we can to help navigate the challenges and problems that arise. We believe that helping children and teens to poke around, try things out and figure out what seems interesting and worth doing right now, in their current lives, is also the best way to help them develop self-knowledge and experience at figuring out what kind of life they want and what they need to do or learn in order to create that life. In other words, it’s the best preparation for their futures.

Home: Values

Current programs

middle school and advanced upper elementary

Ecosystem - play the game

Build your own ecological network in Ecosystem, a biologically-derived card drafting game. Players choose, pass, and arrange eleven different card types consisting of organisms ranging from bees to bears and environments like streams and meadows. Earn points by aligning animals with habitats where they most flourish.
Biodiversity is rewarded while monocultures are penalized. Each time you play, you build a one-of-a-kind ecosystem, striving to balance the delicate connections between all living things

Salt Marsh Ecology

This Sewee Shell Ring Trail in the Francis Marion National Forest is only about ten minutes past the Sewee Visitor and Environmental Education Center and provides a great opportunity to experience multiple ecosystems in one trip. To start, students can learn about the many adaptations that plants have for living near saltwater as we hike through the maritime forest on our way out to the marsh.

Then, they will be the scientists as they use scientific estimation techniques and upper-level math skills to calculate the number of fiddler crabs in Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge.

This is also a great locale to do a Biodiversity Binge (using a transect to compare the biodiversity of the salt marsh to the forest and the ecotone in between).

Social Studies: The Forest Service Archaeologist will lead your students on an interpretive walk around the shell ring itself, while explaining how the Sewee Indians survived in this forest hundreds of years ago.

Museum Mile Month

During the month of January 2020, we are participating Museum Mile Month, spending an entire month learning about Charleston’s rich history and culture while visiting: Aiken-Rhett House Museum, The Charleston Museum, Nathaniel Russell House Museum, Joseph Manigault House, Washington Light Infantry, The Powder Magazine, Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon, The Gibbes Museum of Art, Old Slave Mart Museum, South Carolina Historical Society Museum, Heyward-Washington House.

Home: Classes

Systems Biology -
Freshwater Wetlands

Ion Swamp is a fantastic interpretative trail in the Francis Marion National Forest. Students will spend the morning identifying and collecting data on the diverse array of living things in this vast freshwater wetland. Then, they come back to the Sewee Visitor and Environmental Education Center where we’ll spend the afternoon modeling the complex ecosystem they just investigated producing an awesome model ecosystem mural AND plenty of real data for students to analyze.

A bit further down the road, we'll be able to observe a colony of red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) - an endangered species that make cavities in longleaf pine trees and Francis Marion National Forest and boasts the 2nd largest population in the world! Students will investigate what factors create a suitable habitat for the endangered RCW . They will then learn the reasons for this bird’s decline and have a chance to be biologists and monitor a simulated RCW colony.

Social Studies: those interested can also spend some time learning about the history of rice culture in South Carolina and how it has shaped our current ecosystem

Although activities are designed for Middle School, most are accessible to advanced Upper Elementary students adults in the group have learned quite a bit as well.

play Trekking the national parks

Imagine yourself staring down a giant grizzly in Katmai National Park. Take a canoe ride alongside alligators in the swampy waters of the Everglades. Trek the trails that define our nation's most valuable public resource — the National Parks!
Trekking the National Parks is an award-winning family board game that celebrates the U.S. national parks in a fun and competitive way. Players compete for points by claiming park cards and collecting trail stones as they travel across the map experiencing the wonders at each of these magnificent landscapes.

Carnivorous Plants of the Carolina Bays

Take students out to see one of these mysterious wetland habitats on the Francis Marion National Forest. On the edge of the nutrient-deficient “bays” is where we find carnivorous plants. We’ll discuss why these plants are suited to live in these unique environments and then dissect a plant to see what it’s been catching!

For a less scientific lesson have students come to the wilderness area, spend time exploring during a forest scavenger hunt, and then give them time for reflection. We have writing and drawing exercises to help students capture the essence of wilderness. Then come back to the Sewee Center for lunch and students can add their Wilderness reflection to our collage celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.

*Note: this activity is a true forest excursion and will not be on a well-defined trail. It is best suited for older students (4th grade and up).

Home: Classes

Photosynthesis game and science lab

The sun shines brightly on the canopy of the forest, and the trees use this wonderful energy to grow and develop their beautiful foliage. Sow your crops wisely and the shadows of your growing trees could slow your opponents down, but don't forget that the sun revolves around the forest. Welcome to the world of Photosynthesis, the green strategy board game!

biodiversity

Let’s take a close look at the biodiversity of our region! Students will use scientific techniques to catalog all of the living organisms in one of our ecosystems at one of our other field studies sites. Then we’ll bring our data back into the classroom and utilize our math skills as we calculate and discuss the importance of biodiversity and species richness. After seeing the red wolves, students will hypothesize what nearly drove these top predators to extinction. Then, they’ll learn about the Red Wolf Recovery Program and why it is crucial to protect the apex predators of our ecosystems.

Advanced – Students can look at real genetic data and be a Red Wolf matchmaker using the data to pick a healthy breeding pair!

Play Bios:genesis cooperatively and explore molecular evolution

In Bios:Genesis, one to four players start as organic compounds shortly after Earth's formation, represented by up to three Biont tokens. The Amino Acids command Metabolism, the lipids create cells, the pigments control energy absorption and storage, and the nucleic acids control templated replication. Their goal is a double origin of life: first as Autocatalytic Life (a metabolic cycle reproducing, yet not replicating, its own constituents), and the second as Darwinian Life (an Organism using a template to replicate in an RNA world).

Home: Classes

Ecosystems - Systems Biology

STUDENTS DISCOVER ON THEIR OWN what an ecosystem is by observing local habitats and the roles of organisms that live here. Students will learn the management techniques used by the Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service to keep these habitats healthy.

Students will learn about the many functions of our forest as they work in groups to complete a forest scavenger hunt on our onsite trails.

Upper Elementary/Middle School – In this lesson, the students are the botanists as they identify common trees on the Nebo Trail. Not only will students practice their observational skills as they hike, learning about the food webs of our forest and wetland ecosystems, but they will also practice their analytical thinking and problem-solving as they work in small groups to identify local flora using a dichotomous key.

After the hike: Make a food web – students use photos (of animals, tracks, dens, webs, etc.) that they take during the hike to create a model of the forest food web.

Play Evolution the Beginning and learn about natural selection

In Evolution: The Beginning, you'll adapt your species to succeed in a dynamic ecosystem where food is scarce and predators roam. Traits like Flight and Horns will protect your species from Carnivores while a Long Neck will help them get food that others cannot reach. With hundreds of ways to evolve your species, every game unfolds in a beautifully unique way.

reptiles and amphibians

Students will learn distinguishing characteristics of reptiles and amphibians as well as some of the environmental challenges they face. Live animals will be used to allow for a hands-on, close up look at some of the most common reptiles in the Lowcountry.

Students will play a game showcasing the many threats facing baby loggerheads, learn what biologists and volunteers on the refuge do to protect this threatened species, and then make a special loggerhead craft to help them remember how they can help loggerhead sea turtles!

Habitat Enhancement/Restoration – Pick a species or ecosystem that your group is concerned about; research what can be done to help. Past projects have included: building bat boxes or birdhouses, oyster reef restoration, and planting native plants.

Home: Classes

Home: Meet the Team

Kickstarter success! Can't wait to play ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES!

Past events

Chemistry

Explore chemistry through hands-on experiments, virtual reality and modeling, board games, puzzles, art, graphic novels... Why so many games? Dr. Karyn Purvis, co-founder of the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University, stated that it takes about 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain unless it is done with play, in which case it takes only 10-20 repetitions!

tree houses - again

During this hands-on engineering challenge, you'll build even more tree houses in a forest city while pondering on how architecture impacts nature and visa versa, and engaging in a Socratic seminar on sustainable design.

For the love of Math

This is NOT a school math class. Mathematics is here elegant and satisfying because it is approached by playing with patterns, shapes, numbers, structures, and ideas. We will explore infinitesimals and infinities, fractals and the golden ratio, chaos theory and game theory, calculus and non-euclidean geometry through stories, games, manipulatives, and art.

Home: Classes