The role of Adventure

"Learning expeditions" are long-term, "real world" investigations, by teachers and students, of compelling subjects, which culminate in public presentations. Expeditions often involve an element of adventure that is integral with the learning activity. But EL also recognizes a role for "adventure" that is not integrated into an Expedition.

To learn more about Adventure and to think about its role in the learning enterprise, the Board went to the UI climbing wall on Sunday Jan 11.

Lahde writes of the event: "Our climbing wall adventure was important because it facilitated a bonding experience that strengthened our ability, as a board, to care and collaborate with one another. We were literally entrusting our lives to our fellow board members who kept us from falling and who supported us through the challenges we faced during our climb. Our time at the climbing wall also jump started our relationship to one another by being in a new adventuresome environment where only the activity at hand was our focus.....there was no business directly relating to Palouse Prairie School tasks, yet inadvertently we strengthened our ability to work together as a board to successfully create our school."

Nils notes, "At one point early on I said to John, 'If I am able to go higher now depends on how much I trust you to catch me if I fall.' Trust in one's support gives the license to push harder and take larger risks which might be the key to success. Thinking about the trajectories of success and failure, having the trust and taking the good risks offers the paths to success, lacking the trust, or having it broken when the risks are not back-stopped would be the trajectory to failure.