Seventh Graders Take on Exploration Week Challenges

9/28/2018

Seventh grade students engaged in a scavenger hunt, went geocaching and created shelters from tree branches this week as part of the annual Exploration Week.

The activities serve as an introduction to the students’ yearlong unit on “Creative Collaboration” and self-assessed learning, according to Middle School humanities teacher Mary Chappell, one of the faculty members who oversaw the events.

The students participated in both individual and team challenges during the program, which ran from Tuesday, September 25 and through Thursday, September 27. During the activities, they portrayed members of the Henry Hudson crew, circa 1609, by wearing sashes, baggy shirts, rolled-up pants and long socks.

With a goal of developing individual and group problem-solving, communication and collaboration skills, the “exploration” teams gained points during such activities as completing a foot race and crossing an “acid swamp” by walking from one carpet square to another on a field, avoiding the grass, which represented the “acid.”

During Survival Day on Thursday, September 27, the seventh graders took part in a scavenger hunt, collaborating to unveil the answers to riddles provided by their teachers. They inspected the stained-glass windows in Masters Hall, searched for clues in the Pittsburgh Library, and investigated several other locations on campus.

Later, they headed to the woods beyond Clarke Field to test their survival skills by fashioning shelters from tree branches stacked against tree trunks. The students also worked together to build small campfires with one match.

Joining Ms. Chappell in overseeing the Exploration Week adventures were humanities teacher Paul Friedman and science teacher Perry Dripps.