Personally, I believe that schools are not built for learning. An ideal learning environment, in which what was taught actually sticks in the students' mind, would involve movement, discussion, different scenarios that would stimulate new questions and a desire to learn. It is important for lessons to be interactive and make their minds work instead of simply spitting information out at them. Oftentimes students will zone out and not retain information when they are lectured or not shown why what they are learning is important. I have also found myself questioning why I would need to learn things in my classes, but wanting to learn more on a certain subject.
While it can be more difficult to implement these ideals in a kindergarten class, given that they are required to learn certain things such as the alphabet and numbers, it is still possible to create a stimulating environment in which learning is desired. For instance after a science experiment the teacher and/or I could begin a discussion in which we answer questions that the students have on why what happened, happened. In another situation we could read a story and have the children come up with questions they have for the author based on how he/she wrote the story. Later we could come up with possible answers to these questions. These situations reflect an ideal learning environment because they allow the students to partially dictate their own learning, which requires them to think for themselves.
