About Expeditionary Learning/Outward Bound

Expeditionary Learning -A way to challenge the human spirit

Expeditionary Learning Schools use project-based learning on a daily basis, but the philosophy also entails much more. To understand the full benefits of an EL school one must first understand what project-based learning is all about.

Project-based learning is a hands-on-approach to learning where children study real-world issues. It brings the world into the classroom and the classroom out into the world, connecting content to current issues, often generating motivation because children see a purpose to their studies. An EL school uses PBL in their exhibitions. It may take many small projects to make one large exhibition.

An exhibition is a large display of work, a culminating event that celebrates the accomplishments of the children. These range from plays to museum displays to newspapers to travel brochures to recreating a town in the 1800's. The road they take to get to the exhibition is through projects and fieldwork.

Fieldwork differs greatly from the traditional term fieldtrip. During a fieldwork experience, children are expected to take on an ethnographer's stance, sketching, diagramming, note taking, being a photographer, interviewing people or writing in any genre they wish. These they log and share with the class to drive their studies.

What is so special about EL? It has its foundation in community, discovery and fostering growth of every aspect of an individual. There is a solid set of design principles and core practices that are reflected in the school's community. This makes it a community of learners where everyone listens to one another and continues to learn from each other and the world at large.

All in all, EL schools foster children to care for their communities, they also build and challenge character and generate a community of learners and allow children to work on curriculum with a hands-on-approach that connects to the world around them. How can you afford to have your child go anywhere else? To learn more about how EL has affected other communities click here to link onto their web site www.elob.org.