Wisconsin Idea
The Wisconsin Idea suggests that the education received in the campus classroom should benefit, in the words of former UW President Charles Van Hise, “every family of the state,” the research have impact beyond the four walls of a lab, and that public service become an institutional priority.
As an essential service to UW families, our campus child care system works tirelessly to uphold that idea, whether through student practicums where professional, experienced educators mentor and model best practices for tomorrow’s workforce, being accessible to researchers who want to explore and expand knowledge in some way, or in collaboration with the greater early childhood community to bring high-quality, hands-on training to ensure we are educating our youngest learners for the brightest future.
Projects Promoting the Wisconsin Idea
Read All About It: Literacy and Multiculturalism Come Together
Written by Pakistani author Rukhsana Khan, Big Red Lollipop is just one of many books to earn the Charlotte Zolotow Award, administered annually by the Children’s Cooperative Book Center at the UW-Madison, that has been put into the hands of children at Eagle’s Wing and the other campus child care centers courtesy of the CCBC and funding from an Evjue Foundation grant.
Promoting Teachers of English Language Learners
Needing a partner site with young children from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds to aid in development of a new language assessment tool, WIDA—an organization run through the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, committed to advancing language development and academic achievement for linguistically diverse children—found Eagle’s Wing was a natural fit.
A Bridge from Drawing to Learning
Once a week, for about two hours, magic was happening at Eagle’s Wing and it was all because of drawing. DrawBridge, a graduate course designed by Lynda Barry, Cartoonist, Artist and Assistant Professor, to get students out of their “comfort zone” and revert to their “childish” ways, was a unique opportunity for UW–Madison students and preschool students to work as researchers.
I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the University reaches every home in the state.