The Eden Project: A Living Classroom

The Eden Project is an educational charity and visitor destination in Cornwall, South West England. Once a china clay pit, today Eden houses the world’s largest rainforest in captivity. Transformed into this living... [ view full abstract ]

The Eden Project is an educational charity and visitor destination in Cornwall, South West England. Once a china clay pit, today Eden houses the world’s largest rainforest in captivity. Transformed into this living classroom, Eden has welcomed more than 18 million visitors since opening in 2001 and is a major player in the local economy. Eden’s mission is “to connect us with each other and the living world, exploring how we can work towards a better future”. Eden encourages people to look at the world through a different lens; propositioned by a focus on connection with each other and the living world, and reinforced by commonality, with what we share being greater than that which separates us. This session explores the role of interpretation, communication and engagement in experiential education, sharing insights of Eden’s unique approach.

Eden connects all ages, abilities and interests with the living world through exhibits in two Biomes, the Rainforest and the Mediterranean, alongside Outdoor Gardens and The Core, a science and learning centre. More structured learning takes place through apprenticeship programmes (currently employing 24 apprentices), a new higher education programme, and over 48,000 visited Eden on a school visit last year. Voluntary internships offer opportunities to develop industry skills; Researcher Writer Interns (4 this summer), assist research into sustainability topics to create stories for visitors. A key message at Eden is that people cannot care about what they do not understand or to which they do not feel connected. Therefore interpretation can be seen as a sustainability framework in itself and forms the basis of experiential learning through storytelling, underpinned by narratives of hope and optimism. This is reflected by Eden’s own sustainability compass, building on the triple bottom to include Nature, Economic, Social and Who Decides. The message Eden conveys is that ‘We Decide’, facilitated through the site acting as a living classroom; experiential education opportunities experienced among staff by providing the visitor experience, and programmes such as the Researcher Writer Internship aiding creation of interpretation. The aim is to make knowledge and feelings intertwined through inspiring communication, to the widest possible audience.