Proctor Academy - The Continuum of Experiential Ed.

The term "experiential education" makes some people think of bark-eating wilderness programs. Mountain Classroom, the programs in Segovia and Aix and--in particular--Ocean Classroom demonstrate the extraordinary power of learning-by-doing, and students don't complain about the cuisine. (No one complains about the cuisine in Aix-en-Provence.) For the truly professional educator, the challenge is to make learning indelible in relatively traditional subjects. It can be done. Here's Nick, a freshman, teaching a segment on volume and density to his team in geometry this morning:

Just in time! Here's Mike, a senior, with Rory and Surveying teacher Brooks Bicknell '77 right after lunch.

A challenging, upper-level science elective, Wildlife Science takes advantage of local resources for fieldtrips. Today we hiked through woodland snowbanks to observe heron nesting habitats at a beaver pond known only as "The Rookery." Land Use Manager Dave Pilla points out huge nests in dead treetops:

Mike speeds by Proctor Pond on the way to Surveying after lunch. Will he be on time?

Sam picks his way through a snowy glen below the beaver dam at The Rookery.

Dave points to evidence of beaver gnawing on yellow birch, which is not their preferred wood.

Beavers live to create and maintain still water. When they see a moving stream, they say, 'Dam it!'

Salamanders go from an aquatic existence to dry land, but this newt does the opposite: he spent his first two years as a red eft out of water.

Students separated to make wildlife observations.

These nests are in trees that drowned about 25 years ago, when the beaver first dammed the stream.

Wildlife science: campus greenheads.