Riverdale Country School Film:

Project Knowmad

The school film shows off the KNOWMAD program. Riverdale Country School’s KNOWMAD program was launched in the summer 2012 to explore the history of capitalism in the U.S. and its influence on criminal justice, education, wage inequality and the general well being of U.S. citizens.

It is an intensive learning experience in the middle of June using New York City and its environment as the prime teaching tool. The courses are mostly “field based,” part of Riverdale’s program of experiential learning. Each year upwards of 50 students from the middle and upper school participate in courses which cover science, history, the arts and more.

Filming on the streets of New York City can get a little bit hectic, but we love a challenge! Using the real world as a classroom and witnessing ongoing debates (the teachers unions vs. charter schools for example) demonstrates and engages students with the complexity of our world. By placing the students in the thick of things, Riverdale’s Knowmad program forces them to think critically about these complicated societal issues and discuss them amongst each other with maturity.

The program empowers the students to make their own decisions by letting them weigh competing and contrasting arguments and come to their own conclusions. Riverdale’s week-long field based program works as a valuable experience for the students to explore all sides of an issue and grow intellectually through informed discussion.

 

To see some of the other works we’ve done for the Riverdale Country School, click here.

To return to our video portfolio, click here.