Dogs in Learning: Transforming Education

Every academic institution is clearly obliged to have great aspirations for its students. In addition since the world has changed exponentially in ways that are not always easy to understand, so as to accurately predict, and prepare students for the future, a new trajectory in education is urgently needed. ACS Athens has developed and is implementing for the past 8 years a new educational paradigm called the Global Morfosis Paradigm, an authentic, unbounded, and exciting educational paradigm educating students for complex and ambiguous future needs. In particular, students in primary grades, learn in an environment of engagement with creativity and innovation, which should be the norm and not the exception. The program Dogs in Learning (DiL) is designed to use highly trained dogs as an inspirational vehicle to help children understand and apply everyday issues related to human behavior such as: leadership, non-violence, patience, respect, kindness, love, team work, responsibility, confidence, friendship, trust, empathy, etc. In addition a plethora of curriculum contents at the Elementary School are being taught and learned by students in a meaningful and fun way utilizing well trained dogs under the guidance and leadership of teachers.