Darwin-Inspired Teaching & Learning

Since 2005 The Charles Darwin Trust has developed with its first consultants Dr Carolyn Boulter and Dr Sue Johnson, a framework for education inspired by Darwin. Its principles underscore all the Trust's education programmes. Randal Keynes (a Trustee and a direct descendant of Darwin) and Professor David Kohn(Senior Research Fellow) provide the Darwin research and scholarship. All programmes will ultimately be designed for online availability on the Trust's website.

Darwin-Inspired Learning takes Darwin's life, methods of working, ideas and the places where he worked as a source of inspiration. Authentic learning experiences can be based upon what is known about Darwin's life and times. Despite Darwin being located firmly for half his lifetime in the Downe countryside, his inspiration can transcend the locality and have a universal interest and impact.

The garden and countryside around Down House was Darwin's laboratory. The area is ideal for exploring the    natural world outside the classroom and promoting methods of investigation and analysis inspired by Darwin. Learning in the real world outside the classroom is as vital now as it was for Darwin. Almost all of Darwin's investigations can be accessed remotely and repeated in the familiar surroundings of home and school. Virtual representation, though important, can never be a substitute for real investigation.

Key features of Darwin-Inspired Learning in the natural world are:

  • active engagement and quality contact with the natural world to develop learners' intellect, creativity and curiosity
  • learners testing their ideas about the natural world
  • learners taking part in solving problems such as those Darwin himself encountered and thereby learning about how scientists work
  • learners exploring ideas through dialogue with other learners and with teachers and with experts