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Experiential Learning: This Isn’t School, and That’s Exactly the Point
Want to see a teacher lose his hair? Ask him to poll a bunch of sixth graders about what they liked best about the carefully curated three-day, two-night trip to Astrocamp up in the mountains near Idyllwild. The answer is always the fun, non-academic stuff: dinner, the zip line, the bungee-jumping-off-the-power-pole, Gaga Ball during free time, the bus ride. The bus ride!
Never the microgravity engineering class while wearing wetsuits in the pool, or the wind-turbine challenge or the rockets they designed and launched. OK, they liked rock-climbing on Mars. That was pretty cool. But are we at odds here? Does the school that plans and executes these fabulous annual outings for students have different expectations than the students?
Actually, no.
There is amazing growth that takes place when kids are allowed to walk freely around an unfamiliar campus up in the mountains and take on new responsibilities: be on time for dinner, participate fully in activities you’d never given a thought to before, don’t be a jerk in the dorm, even when the chaperone isn’t watching. This isn’t school, and that’s exactly the point. We put them in a fantastic foreign environment and let them experience the new, the unfamiliar, the challenging. And, boy, did they learn! Even the academic stuff, without even knowing it.
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Never the microgravity engineering class while wearing wetsuits in the pool, or the wind-turbine challenge or the rockets they designed and launched. OK, they liked rock-climbing on Mars. That was pretty cool. But are we at odds here? Does the school that plans and executes these fabulous annual outings for students have different expectations than the students?
Actually, no.
There is amazing growth that takes place when kids are allowed to walk freely around an unfamiliar campus up in the mountains and take on new responsibilities: be on time for dinner, participate fully in activities you’d never given a thought to before, don’t be a jerk in the dorm, even when the chaperone isn’t watching. This isn’t school, and that’s exactly the point. We put them in a fantastic foreign environment and let them experience the new, the unfamiliar, the challenging. And, boy, did they learn! Even the academic stuff, without even knowing it.
Mayfield Junior School
405 South Euclid Avenue, Pasadena, California 91101 626.796.2774
Located in Pasadena, California, Mayfield Junior School of the Holy Child Jesus is a K-8 Catholic coeducational private school. Our kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school experience best prepares students for high school education and beyond.
