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Programs The Nueva Trips Program Trips Rationale
Programs The Nueva Trips Program Trips Rationale
| Trips Rationale |
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Trips have a long history at Nueva; the first ones go back to the early 1970s. The first sixth grade graduating class wanted to do something special to celebrate their graduation, so the art teacher and the science teacher took them to camp for a couple of nights at Pinnacles. After a few years, the trips were integrated into the curriculum, and there have been many variations on the theme in the years since. When we expanded to a middle school, the trips for the older children became substantially longer and more far-flung. The value in doing the trips is two-fold. First, we consider them a very important extension, and often a focus, of our classroom curricula. These trips may include the opportunity to investigate the communities of organisms that live in freshwater habitats or tide pools, to observe first hand the effects of fire on a forest ecosystem, to experience what it’s like to work as an archaeologist, or to gain understanding of the culture and history of a foreign country. These trips provide hands-on learning experiences that are available in no other way. The second and equally important benefit is the personal growth that children make on the trips. The social and emotional growth of our students has always been an important component of a Nueva education, ever since the founding of the school in 1967. The many moments on these trips when children spontaneously help each other, listen respectfully to each other in discussions, work as a cooperative group in an initiative game, help defuse disagreements, and provide support for homesickness, all contribute to their growth and personal resources. On a trip the children extend what they learn in school about their interactions with each other and about their own images of the kind of people they are. This is an empowering experience. A trip truly embodies our school motto of “Learn by doing, learn by caring.” |