A Chabot instructor strolled out to the Knowledge Garden and noticed an egret lounging in the pond. He thought how majestic this bird looked and he felt gratified knowing that students created a place where such wonderful creatures can roam freely.  

The next day, the students who tend to the garden noticed that all of the fish in the pond had disappeared. The instructor realized that the egret ate all of them.  Some of the goldfish managed to hide from the egret at the bottom of the pond, and revealed themselves a few days after the attack.  

2 weeks passed. Mike, the Chabot student who built the pond with his father, noticed that the remaining goldfish were staying at the bottom of the pond this whole time and wouldn't swim to the top, even to eat. All the students became worried the fish were going to starve.

For Chabot teachers who feature Action Learning, the motto is: "We're a bunch of smart people who don't know anything." Students engaged in Action Learning learn in real time. They partake in projects that not only enable them to hone their passions and talents, but also to celebrate what they don't know.  

Students experience anxiety in the traditional classroom, especially when the teacher calls on students at random to answer a question or solve a math problem.  Students dread this moment. They don't want to be embarrassed because they arrive at the wrong answer. Action Learning eliminates the right and the wrong. There are rarely any final answers--instead there are experiments and experiences. When something has an outcome that we did not intend, like an egret eating almost all of our fish, we reach out to those who can share their knowledge with us, and in turn, we share this knowledge with others. Action Learning invites students to work together like a tribe and to learn by doing and by sharing.  

The students reached out to a Chabot alumni who studied Animal Science and Management at UC Davis. She reported that goldfish learn to avoid areas that have caused pain. They understand different spatial environments and learn not to repeat a behavior that has a high risk of injury.  Our goldfish had learned not to linger at the top of the pond.  

Students engaged in Action Learning aren't paralyzed by fear and anxiety when they don't know something. They see the unknown as an opportunity to collaborate. That was the case with the egret and the goldfish.  No one knew why the goldfish behaved the way they did, and if we did not treat every moment as a learning opportunity, we never would have learned that fish can feel pain, both physical and psychological.  

Mike hypothesized that if we introduce new goldfish to the pond, this might snap our traumatized goldfish out of their shock. He bought 5 new goldfish and tossed them in the pond. They lingered near the top of the water. About an hour later, all the older goldfish had drifted up to the top, and began to eat the food the students had sprinkled on the surface.