June 2, 2016
There was a buzz of excitement today as 
fourth graders headed off to the Science Museum of Minnesota. In fact, the last several weeks have been full of hands-on, active learning experiences for students across divisions. The following are just a few examples of what has taken place just in the past week at MPA.
- Eighth grade Global Studies students held a mock International Summit on the Syrian refugee crisis. Each student researched a country, region, or political party and represented that position throughout intense negotiations.
- Sixth graders dressed as notable figures from the American Civil War and mingled in character with peers and visitors from other divisions.
- Sixth graders also weeded and planted for Loaves and Fishes’ Farm for All program. The vegetables they helped cultivate will ultimately be provided to families who otherwise would not have access to fresh produce.
- Fifth graders went to Camp Ihduhapi where they worked on team- and trust-building, studied environmental issues, fished, and canoed. They were also offered several opportunities for adventure including zip lining, a high ropes course, and an early morning bog plunge.
- Upper School Constitutional Law students presented current US Supreme Court cases to judges and attorneys from the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
In the “olden days,” we used to call most of these kinds of experiences “field trips.” In today’s educational theory and practice, we call them exploratory or experiential learning. What is important is not what we call these learning opportunities, but why we do them. At MPA, exploratory learning is core to our mission because we believe students learn best when they are actively engaged and when information is not only consumed, but knowledge is created.
According to American educational theorist David A. Kolb, “Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.” Kolb held that true learning occurs in a series of cycles: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. Learning comes alive and the fires of curiosity are stoked.
Exploratory learning also fosters an intrinsic motivation to learn. Research indicates that children retain what they learned when they play an active role in their education—when they build their own knowledge of a subject rather than having it transmitted to them by a teacher. In a complex world, knowledge can be found in multiple answers to a problem, not just one answer found in the back of the book or one “Googled” on the internet.
MPA is a community of thinkers, dreamers, and doers. Teachers strive to create opportunities that encourage students to be architects of their own learning; where they take risks, view the world through multiple lenses, utilize innovative tools in both expected and unexpected ways, and demonstrate knowledge across and between disciplines. Viewed in this way, learning compels students to get out from behind their desks and into the world around them.
