From Raw to Radiant: A Project-Based Learning Showcase

March 20, 2026
We strive for an active education for all students here at Parker. At every grade level, our students are lively, engaged, and learning-by-doing. Parker students are natural investigators, and the emergent curriculum here inherently lends itself to following where their curiosity leads. To do this most effectively, Parker teachers use a unique method of progressive education called project-based learning.

Project-based learning is a model through which students gain knowledge and skills by investigating and responding to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge. In so doing, children construct an understanding of the world around them, learning how to ask questions and solve problems. This gives them a sense of agency and responsibility, making their education relevant, vital, and interesting.



One outstanding example of project-based learning at Parker was featured in our Raw to Radiant Showcase that we hosted just before February break. The impetus for this project began years ago, when our art teacher, Claire Sherwood, began a multi-grade level project to harvest and process natural dyes using raw materials found on Parker’s campus. This year, we took it to the next level by collaborating with the lower school science classes to incorporate wool!



Artists began this process with a deep dive into how and where “colors” come to be. They welcomed botanist Jesse Hoffman, who joined students back in the fall to forage our property and collect for native and invasive species of plants. Back in the art room, students then processed their harvesting into inks and dyes. Next, they experimented by playing with the ink as paints, with the middle school even mixing their own pigments to create wooden paint palettes. Finally, they tested the dyes on both wool and cotton.

Simultaneously, in lower school science, our students started learning about the origin of fibers. Guided by their science teacher, Erin Hinshaw, and our Director of Early Childhood, Leigh Augustine, students learned about the shearing process and then (over the course of many classes) had the opportunity to clean, pick, card, and spin raw wool. Finally, these disciplines combined to process almost an entire fleece of wool for our community. The wool was dyed with our beautiful dyes – pokeberry, goldenrod, black walnut, grape, sumac, buckthorn, and black chokeberry – to breath-taking results. With the dyed wool, students then made wet-felted objects and began working on a collaborative weaving project.



Leigh explains the significance of this work, saying, “Anytime you can unpack a process from start to finish with students that is valuable. You are going through something step by step and taking the time to go into a granular state of analysis. It slows things down and asks the child to pause long enough to ask questions, to research, and to model how to find answers – whether it’s through experimentation, investigation, observation, or creation. All of these skills are not only applicable in all kinds of future academic and professional settings, they are essential.”

Leigh goes on to add, “Children need to be connected to the processes that are part of their everyday lives. This project helps them understand how fabric (and thus clothing) comes to be. It is a connection between agriculture and nature, the land and the final product, which is often invisible in our society. Our hope is that if they understand more fully how these materials come into fruition, they can respect that process and be thoughtful about the choices they make as consumers, makers, and producers.”

Doing project work is not just a way of learning; it is a way of working together as a community. The work our students do now will form the basis for the way they will work with others in their adult lives. Project work gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities in working both cooperatively and independently. It allows the teacher to learn more about each child as a person, enabling them to communicate more meaningfully on a range of issues. Students become active and engaged hunters and gatherers of new knowledge, and they enthusiastically take control of their own learning.



As Leigh elaborates, “Project-based learning like this provides multiple entry points for a diverse group of learners. The hands-on aspect of creating something appeals to people who want to engage their bodies in the learning process, and the physicality of that is appealing for a number of reasons. I’m always brought back to the poem The 100 Languages of Children by Loris Malaguzzi which says, “The child has a hundred languages, a hundred hands, a hundred thoughts, a hundred ways of thinking, of playing, of speaking.” At the heart of that poem is this belief that we espouse whole-heartedly here at Parker – that curiosity, inquiry, and experiential learning provide a stronger and more inclusive net to catch all learners because there are infinite ways for children to figure things out.”



Leigh concludes, “What I loved most about this project is that it was so collaborative between teachers, students, and disciplines, including art, science, reading, writing, and social studies. All of these different tentacles came together so beautifully. It was so interconnected and relevant, and the children were so invested in their skill acquisition and showing off what they can do. I loved the way that all different learners could connect to this project, and they all experienced the power of agency and feeling so capable. It’s complex, it’s full circle, it’s complete – and it’s just SO Parker.”