5 ways Lyfta can build cultural capital in the classroom

Students exploring the Awra Amba storyworld series

Lyfta invites students to experience a range of human stories in the form of short, powerful documentaries and interactive 360° spaces and soundscapes. Teachers and students can use these immersive storyworlds to experience new perspectives, broaden horizons and build vital skills and values. Lyfta storyworlds introduce an array of different people, cultures, traditions and places from across the globe in an accessible and engaging way, giving students a broad range of experiences as part of their entitlement to cultural capital. You can read more about our take on cultural capital here.

Read on for 5 exciting ways you can use Lyfta in the classroom to build cultural capital.

1. Meeting new people

Journey to a New Home trailer

We have begun to see strong findings (from classroom impact and from academic research conducted by Tampere University in Finland) that show that the use of Lyfta increases confidence levels about meeting new people (perhaps with different backgrounds or from different countries). By creating safe learning environments for young people to virtually travel the world and hear the stories of others in their own settings and environments, Lyfta supports the building of an intercultural capital 'resource bank' of sorts.

There are 60+ immersive human stories on the Lyfta platform - from circus performers in Belgium to tribespeople in the Amazon Rainforest - there are slices of all different lives from across the globe.

One powerful example is Journey to a New Home, where students meet Adhanom, a refugee, originally from Eritrea, now living in Sweden. He describes his difficult journey to Sweden and what life is like for him now. Students will learn about migration, inclusion and belonging.

2. Virtual cultural capital experience - access to the arts

The main stage in the Secrets of the Opera storyworld series

A more traditional (and arguably liberal-western) understanding of cultural capital activities might relate to access to and understanding of professional theatrical and orchestral performances, or opportunities to visit extensive art galleries or historically significant buildings.

In Secrets of the Opera, students can go behind the scenes at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, explore the main stage, hear musicians play in the orchestra pit, see what it's like backstage and hear the stories of the extraordinary people who work there.

"Being able to explore an actual opera house through Lyfta's ‘Secrets of the Opera', and meet the people who work there, has been a superb insight into that world. The experience truly breaks down the pre-dispositions and prejudices some may have about opera. The Lyfta platform has helped tremendously with this."

JONATHAN HARRIS

HEAD OF ACADEMY MUSIC AT THE PREMIER ACADEMY, MILTON KEYNES

3. Virtual visits to UNESCO World Heritage sites

Necropolis of Makli, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Pakistan which features in a rich media article in the Sacred Acres Lyfta storyworld.

In several of the Lyfta storyworlds students are invited to visit UNESCO world heritage sites. In Sacred Acres, we meet Mohammed from Pakistan. Mohammed's family has owned a piece of land in Karachi for generations, where the local Jewish community were allowed to bury their dead. There are not so many Jewish people left here, but Mohammed continues to safeguard the cemetery. After hearing Mohammed's story students can learn about the Necropolis of Makli, a UNESCO world heritage site.

In other Lyfta storyworlds children can learn about other UNESCO world heritage sites and parks in Curacao, Peru, the Philippines and Tanzania which can both support the accumulation of cultural capital and also geographical knowledge.

4. Gain a global perspective

Trailer to Awra Amba Storyworld

Viewing lives around the world is important as it gives students a more global perspective when considering their futures. In the Lyfta Awra Amba series, we introduce a community in Ethiopia that values equality, compassion and self-sufficiency. Awra Amba, now a thriving village of around 500 people, has 83 university graduates, several successful businesses, a kindergarten, a primary and secondary school, and even a health centre with its own lab.

At Upton Court Grammar School, one Year 11 pupil shared with us how she had been able to support her sister's application to medical school which required a more global perspective of medicine around the world by referencing Lyfta's Awra Amba storyworld in Ethiopia.

5. Learning to recognise their own unique cultural capital

Trailer to Becoming Me Storyworld

In the Lyfta series, Becoming Me, students can watch other children growing up and recognising their own unique cultural capital. Six young people share how they balance their different family faith and beliefs with their growing-up journey, where many themes can resonate with the young people who view them. Belonging, faith and identity are complex themes that can be challenging to tackle. This series gives teachers an immersive and impactful way to introduce these sensitive topics in the classroom.

Why not then organise a day when students can be encouraged to celebrate their own culture and traditions by bringing in traditional items or food from home? Children could also be asked to interview an elderly relative or family friend to find out about their past and learn about their culture and traditions.

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