KIS pitches experiential learning

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Sat, September 23, 2017 | 09:09

Education

KIS pitches experiential learning

Posted : 2016-10-19 14:25

Updated : 2016-10-20 13:54

A seventh grade student of Korea International School (KIS) writes down the results of a water test she
and her classmate conducted along the Hongcheon River in Hongcheong, Gangwon Province, Sept. 2.
This activity was part of the school's special outdoor Experiential Education (EE) program. / Courtesy of KIS

Schoolchildren encouraged to gain 21st century life skills

Korea International School
Director Stephen Cathers

By Chung Hyun-chae

Korea International School (KIS) Director Stephen Cathers has emphasized the importance of learning from experience as students can gain life skills while engaging in outdoor activities.

KIS has been running a special outdoor Experiential Education (EE) program since 2012 to allow students to learn from real-life challenges.

"Experiential education will give birth to true purpose and inspiration in students' academic endeavors to make an impact on the world," Cathers told The Korea Times in a recent interview at the school's campus in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

He noted that the EE program is not just for students' social lives but is also to encourage them to gain 21st century skills which are the foundations for business success.

"When students are challenged beyond their normal limits they are not just learning confidence, but everything becomes heightened," he said. "You get to push people to their limits to move to the next step for their growth."

He is confident that by the time students graduate from KIS, they will hold not only a superior knowledge base from their academic studies, but also a passion to change the world through their engagement with it.

The EE program includes a multi-day trip for students from the 4th to 12th grades, which usually takes place in October. Every student is required to participate as it is part of the core curriculum.

Tara Verenna, director of teaching and learning at the school, gave an example of an EE trip in which students in 12th grade did a 10-kilometer hike on Mt. Seorak in Osaek, Yangyang, Gangwon Province.

"The majority of students said, ‘I can't do that. I can't hike that far,' but what we have really seen over time is that they have been successful with these hard challenges and are building resilience," Verenna said. "Then they automatically know that even if it is hard, they are going to persevere and finish it."

Cathers noted that the school was more content-driven in the past when they had the kids recite in tests.

"Many cases of educational research have proven, however, that students learn better in active applied real-world activities," he said.

Established in 2000, the international school takes advantage of having multiple campuses. It has campuses in Seoul, Seongnam, and on Jeju Island.

The main campus in Seongnam sends about 99 percent of its students to foreign universities including Stanford, Princeton and Harvard every year.

Verenna stressed that outdoor activities are essential for students to gain life skills.
"Kids are highly successful in classrooms but when you take them out of that, they don't necessarily have the skills to be able to handle different situations that come their way," she said.

"The trip has a lot of teaching in the field where students learn about persevering when they feel tired, and they learn to not just think of themselves but to think of other people within their group."

Components of EE program

Each EE program has a carefully planned itinerary that has three major components: outdoor education, service learning ― which means community service ― and developing skills.

"There is always an outdoor adventure component which is usually something where students might be a little bit afraid, such as a ropes course, where they have to conquer their fear of heights or do something that feels a little uncomfortable but in a safe setting," Verenna said.

Throughout the program, teachers provide students with different experiences that put them in situations where they have to use the skills successfully.

"For example, students go out to the stream to take water quality samples because they have been doing lessons about how to do that and then they apply the knowledge," Verenna said.

She also stressed that teachers try hard to ensure that everyone has a service learning component during the EE program by giving students the chance to work together as a team to hone their leadership and collaboration skills.

With the theme varying from trip to trip, some of the school's EE programs are centered on service learning.

For example, on the grade 11 trip, the students conduct service for children and young adults with physical disabilities.

Also, the students reflect as a group every day during the trip, being away from distractions such as electronic devices.

"It is important for the students to have these experiences because they should know how transfers happen in their school life when they go back to the classroom," Verenna said.

The teachers, who know kids best, plan each trip based on the learners' needs in each grade so that the students are appropriately challenged and accessed.

"Every EE program starts from ‘what do our kids need?'" Verenna added.

She cited an example of an EE trip for students in grade 12 that is all about transition.

"These kids are now going to college, a major life change, so the whole trip was designed around helping them with that transition," she said.

The theme of another EE program for students in 4th grade was forging friendships because students who have been in homeroom classes with the same kids will be mixed with 100 other students when they go to middle school.

hcchung@ktimes.com