Expedition Curriculum

While the groups are on the trail there are many opportunities for 'teachable moments.' As the students come to a fork in the path they will need to consult the map, make a decision, follow through on that decision, communicate it to others, refine their plan if they make the wrong choice. What a great opportunity for the instructor team to teach both hard skills (map reading, compass use etc.) and soft skills (leadership, communication, decision making etc.).

On the other hand some lessons are more formal sit-down affairs taught after dinner or at a break during the hike.

In either case I think instructor teams will have a bit more time this year to do some teaching since they won't be working every second to keep our students warm and dry!

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the kinds of lessons we'll be teaching in the field this week so I added a new file to the downloads section to the right. Click on Curriculum Elements to download a pdf of many of the key lessons your children will be experiencing this week.

For example, the picture at the top of this post is from a group last year using map reading and route planning as a tool to teach students about making decisions that work for the whole group.