CSS

Experience-based Learning in the Middle School

The Colorado Springs School embraces the concept of learning by doing, both within and beyond the classroom. Our Middle School students also travel throughout Colorado on curriculum-based trips designed to teach academic principles and life lessons through firsthand experience.

Through our teaching method of strong academics supported by experience-based learning, each student:
  • Learns subject matter more thoroughly, more deeply, and retains information longer than in traditional, passive learning environments.
  • Is an active participant in a relaxed, focused atmosphere.
  • Gains responsibility and independence, while at the same time learning the importance of collaboration.
  • Learns through a hands-on curriculum that includes Experience Centered Seminars, Middle School Seminars, Children's School trips, and other unique, academically-based outings.
  • Discovers how to apply learned information to new settings.
  • Learns about him- or herself, others, and the world.
  • Develops the confidence that comes only by doing.

Walkabout
Eighth grade students at the Colorado Springs School participate in a unique program each May called Walkabout. The Walkabout is a rite of passage at The Colorado Springs School. This program has been a part of CSS for over ten years, and families often report it is truly a life-changing event. At a time when students yearn for more adult privileges and the chance to make decisions, Walkabout provides them with an experience that demonstrates the incredible responsibility that comes with growing up.

Named for the famous right of passage for Australian Aboriginal young adults, the CSS Walkabout first strives to remove students from familiar surroundings and old roles. Students travel to the Four Corners area where the program uses the outdoors as a vehicle for teamwork and problem solving situations.

While adult leaders are committed facilitators during Walkabout, students are given the tools and opportunity to make many decisions during this 12-day experience. The students are responsible for preparing meals, organizing themselves for solving problems within the community, and making decisions for the group's activities each day. Students learn how to work as a team, and most of the decision opportunities ask students to consider what is good for the group, as opposed to what is good "for me." Students who have relied on adults in the past to set their priorities, schedule their day, and complete tasks when they grow weary, now blossom in an environment where they must step up to accomplish their goals. Many efforts fail at first, but faculty leaders facilitate reflection that leads to another effort. Faculty leaders do not hesitate to interfere in matters of safety and extreme frustration, but spend most of their time facilitating student progress with suggestions as opposed to "doing it for them."

The trip's foundation includes a curriculum that focuses on six pathways to adulthood. Each evening, students come to the circle to listen to readings and participate in discussions regarding the pathways. The six pathways are:
  • Lessons (there are no mistakes only lessons)
  • Growth (altruism, responsibility and confidence)
  • Relationships (the person you present to the world has something to do with how others treat you)
  • Challenge (non-action, as well as action, has consequences)
  • Gifts and Giving (you get what you give, and it is important to identify the unique gifts you bring to any group)
  • Discovery (growing up does not mean you stop having a sense of wonder)

Each day, as the lessons unfold, students work to incorporate the six pathways into their life. Each student receives a personal challenge for the trip from the faculty leaders. Sometimes the challenge is something the student determines; sometimes the leaders will suggest a challenge. The challenges are very unique to that individual, and are chosen with careful thought. At the end of this experience, students return home with a sense of capability and respect for the adult responsibilities that come with the privileges they are eager to earn.

Seminars
The Middle School faculty prepares three academic seminars each year that allow students time to immerse themselves in a topic of study. Lasting from four days to about two weeks, each seminar has a curriculum designed to advance both academics and personal growth.

Seminar I - Outdoor Education
Early in September, Middle School students build community through outdoor education. Through this fun and valuable opportunity, we encourage students to get to know themselves better, actively participate in direct learning processes both cooperatively and independently, and express thoughts and observations in writing related to science, art, geography, and other academic disciplines.

Seminar II - Career Exploration
Each February middle school students are immersed in a four-day seminar focusing on a specific career.
  • Click here to read descriptions from 2009 Seminar II. 
  • Click here to read descriptions from 2010 Seminar II.

Seminar III - The Colorado Experience
Seminar III for our sixth and seventh graders is a course of in-depth study and experience. The seminar may include topics such as hiking, camping, environmental concerns, politics, history, journalism, and performance. Eighth Graders participate in "Walkabout," a special seminar for our eighth graders is a camping and rafting trip that explores adult responsibilities and is a rite of passage and personal growth.
Artist-in-Residence Program
The Artist-in-Residence program offers students a chance to work with our own faculty artists and artists from the community for a three week period. Students have the amazing opportunity to select the course of their choice! Click here to view the 2009 AiR course selections.

In-Class
Learning through our rigorous curriculum is deepened through experiential teaching techniques that occur in-class or on campus. Our teachers work hard to bring hands-on experiences into day-to-day learning. Examples may include having students carefully dig through a large container of sand to find "archaeological evidence," recording their findings and increasing their understanding of how archaeologists work and reconstruct ancient civilizations; measuring the height of a classmate and the length of the classmate's shadow, then using ratios to determine the height of a tree; and using mathematical principles to construct a simple pinhole camera, and using the camera to with correct exposure and composition principles to produce photographs.