Mischa Saunders:
Societal Narratives
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For my individual research l will be focusing on societal narratives as they pertain to the realms of economy, politics, and culture, and the interactions between these realms. These studies will be carried out as a member of the hosting team of Classroom Alive. I will focus on two specific narratives, Anthroposophy and Materialism, and compare these with others that I encounter from people and places along the way. To understand how the differing perspectives of these narratives manifest in the three realms (economy, politics, and culture) I will focus on what each narrative has to say about food systems, finding common ground, and the role of the individual in society.
Anna Wynants:
Food and Health into Practice
Classroom Alive provides a framework to take my studies away from my desk into practice, an opportunity which I want to use to explore and experience the relationship between food and health. This includes cooking and experimenting with healthy meals, wild edibles, healing plants, local food as well as learning about what is healthy food, where does it come from, what does a human body need to be and stay healthy, what is health (mental and physical) and basic anatomic processes.
Caleb Buchbinder:
​The Human Being in a World Economy
For my individual research I will be exploring how we relate to the world in three levels, as individual, in community, and as part of society. Individually I will be taking up an inner path of exploration of how we perceive the world. Communally I will be exploring how to hold healthy group process, this will take place largely in my work with hosting Classroom Alive. On a societal level I will be exploring finance and money as it dictates how we relate collectively.
Shirin Eimermacher:
Beyond the neoliberal educational paradigm: Higher education and anthroposophy​​​ ​ ​​​​​​ ​
​During Classroom Alive I will try to figure out what anthroposophical pedagogical ideas could mean for another approach to higher education that serves the needs of young people and of the world. How do we educate in order for people to be free and for positive change to appear in the world? I will do this mainly by studying Waldorf education and anthroposophy, the pedagogical relationship based on Martin Bubers work and the link between initiation processes and education through the story of Parsival. But also the walk itself and the experiment that Classroom Alive is, are object of study to me.
Mathijs Poppe:
"Phenomenology in Film" & "Nature and Humans"
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During my time at the filmschool in Ghent (KASK, www.kask.be), I learned about directing fiction and documentary films. For my Individual Research at Classroom Alive, I will continue working with moving image and sound to create the forms that tell my stories. I will carry my film-equipment with me on the journey, but I will also study about phenomenology in the history of cinema, in the work of Andrei Tarkovsky and Philippe Grandrieux in particular.
During our walk in Germany we met a lot of farmers and slowely my interst on the topic of "Nature and Humans" grew into taking it up as a part of my studies. How are do we need to live for the earth to prosper?​​
Gregor Weiss
Log-House Construction
I have been working as a civil engineer since September 2013, but for the moment I don't want to work for the industrie in an office. That kind of wokr doesn't make any sense for me and that's why I want to learn to learn log-house construction. I need a lot of practice but on Classroom Alive I plan to gain some theoretical knowledge that is also necassary. I liked the idea to build with a simply, eco-friendly material which dose not require a lot of tools, but a lot of know-how and experience. Every construction has is own particularities given by the irregularities of wood and the human work : It is an Art!
Robin Standley
What does it mean to make art? A Practice of Creating Meaning
I will be continuing my studies of art away from a studio, as I take a semester away from completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting. I'll be exploring how making art relates to everyday life, and how it helps an individual relate to their environment and situation. I'm interested in how the actions involved in making art can translate to things we wouldn't normally consider as "artistic.". What does it mean, that, as Joseph Beuys says, "Everyone is an artist?" I'm interested in how art can wake us up, bring meaning to our lives, and cause us to live creatively instead of mechanically. I'll be exploring, also, why I choose the path of a fine artist, and what painting means to me beyond the creation of images. I'm interested in relating bodily impulses, emotions, memories, needs to bring about a whole individual.
Individual Research
Classroom Alive gives students the opportunity to deepen and focus on the questions they hold as an individual. This part of the walking studies is called "Individual Research." The students engaged in their Individual Research every day during two time blocks (see daily schedule). Students created their own curriculum. This meant that they choose the mentors, texts and practices that could challenge them to fully explore their topics. The focus weeks and nodes gave the students the chance to sit together around different topics and share their work with peers and the public.
Madalena Siqueira
Exploring the Scientific Paradigm
As a student of molecular biology in a traditional educational system, I was frustrated by the narrowness of my studies and the lack of context to situate my studies in. During class room alive, I will explore the history of science and the development of scientific thinking from Aristotle to the present day. While biology is my primary interest, I would like to construct an overview of science as a philosophy before specializing in any particular field. I will therefore be reading classic scientific texts while continuing to study basic physics and biology.