Welcome

Last year's trip to Costa Rica showed us that education can, and should, be a life-altering experience. This year, a largely new group of students, have decided to learn about and travel to Puerto Rico. With this new topic and destination in mind, we have developed a year-long interdisciplinary class that is based on the same three core principles:

1) Travel to expand students' horizons
2) An explicit connection between the classroom and real world
3) The use of sweat equity for students to see that their efforts can make a difference

During the early fall, the curriculum was largely focused on developing the 21st Century Skills of problem solving, critical thinking, decision-making, and collaboration. This was initially done using group challenges in the classroom, but then became vitally important once we started raking lawns. In addition to being our major fundraiser, this hard work put students in positions that required group problem solving, as well as perseverance and responsibility – traits that we all know are central to changing the trajectory of their lives.

During the winter and spring, each student will be developing an independent research project on a chosen aspect of Puerto Rico.
We hope that you will keep checking back as we share our learning, growth and adventures.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Excitement and Titus!

I am getting so excited for the trip. My research has reassured me a bit that there aren't too many critters I need to worry about getting bit by. Although there is something called the Puerto Rican Giant Centipede... They're big, scary looking, AND venomous... Yikes!
In other news Titus molted over vacation. It was the most uneventful molt I have ever seen one night he was just sitting content in his terrarium, and then when I checked on him the next morning I saw him sitting next to his molt. When my other tarantula molted, she took about a day and a half and it was like was almost like waiting for a mother to deliver a baby (I was away and it was the first tarantula molt I experienced. I kept having my boyfriend update me on how she was doing every hour or so =P )Titus is about the size of the palm of my hand now, and has long legs and a small body almost like a baby horse. I can't wait until the next time I feed so then he'll get big and happy again =]

-Andi

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