Bridging Environments in the Elementary Classroom

As elementary classrooms become increasingly diverse, teachers need to incorporate instructional content and methods that will spark students' interests and make learning experiences relevant to their daily lives. The authors, here, discuss the concept of a “hybrid space,” which seeks to make learning meaningful by bridging content with students' existing knowledge and backgrounds. They discuss how teachers can facilitate student sharing of their knowledge in a safe and well-respected environment that will promote their understanding of how what they are learning is relevant to their own lives. These environments can be created by integrating student interests with real-life contexts, engaging in cross-disciplinary approaches to teaching and learning, and facilitating meaning discourses among students around their own experiences.