Old Town Elementary School students sort and identify freshwater invertebrates at Pushaw Lake. Penobscot River Watershed Education Program, September 2007. Photo by: Kristy St. Peter, Old Town Elementary School
VV in Maine Classrooms
What does VitalVenture look like in one classroom in Maine?
What does it look like sustained over four grades in every elementary and middle school across the state?
How does a sustained learning experience begin to change how students in grades 5-8 learn, think, explore, interact, connect, and do?
While the individual activities, investigations, and action components of each VitalVentureWatershed Experience stand on their own quite nicely, the true strength of VitalVenture lies in its design as a four-year learning continuum, and its aim to foster independence and autonomy among learners. VitalVenture is changing how Maine students learn science, experience their environment, and connect with their local communities.
A middle grades learning continuum
The ideal VitalVenture learning experience engages Maine students with core science and social studies concepts over four successive years. Interdisciplinary learning extends into language arts, math, and the arts. Each year students tackle a new watershed issue that builds on and extends learning from prior years’ Watershed Experiences. At each grade level, a new Watershed Experience lets students construct a more sophisticated understanding of systems, hone investigation skills and scientific habits of mind, and apply and extend their learning into local communities.
As students build on prior years’ Watershed Experiences, they gain increasing independence as learners, thinkers, and problem-solvers. The Watershed Experiences offer a logical, achievable continuum of inquiry learning from grade 5 through 8. Ideally, students who complete a Watershed Experience during each of their middle school years will be poised to set their own pace, direct their own investigations, initiate peer learning, follow personal interests, and develop and carry out their own action projects lightly guided and supported by teachers.
In the Classroom
Old Town Elementary School students sort and identify freshwater invertebrates at Pushaw Lake. Penobscot River Watershed Education Program, September 2007. Photo by: Kristy St. Peter, Old Town Elementary School
VV in Maine Classrooms
While the individual activities, investigations, and action components of each VitalVenture Watershed Experience stand on their own quite nicely, the true strength of VitalVenture lies in its design as a four-year learning continuum, and its aim to foster independence and autonomy among learners. VitalVenture is changing how Maine students learn science, experience their environment, and connect with their local communities.
A middle grades learning continuum
The ideal VitalVenture learning experience engages Maine students with core science and social studies concepts over four successive years. Interdisciplinary learning extends into language arts, math, and the arts. Each year students tackle a new watershed issue that builds on and extends learning from prior years’ Watershed Experiences. At each grade level, a new Watershed Experience lets students construct a more sophisticated understanding of systems, hone investigation skills and scientific habits of mind, and apply and extend their learning into local communities.
Learn more about the VitalVenture learning continuum »
A continuum of inquiry learning
As students build on prior years’ Watershed Experiences, they gain increasing independence as learners, thinkers, and problem-solvers. The Watershed Experiences offer a logical, achievable continuum of inquiry learning from grade 5 through 8. Ideally, students who complete a Watershed Experience during each of their middle school years will be poised to set their own pace, direct their own investigations, initiate peer learning, follow personal interests, and develop and carry out their own action projects lightly guided and supported by teachers.
Learn more about inquiry instruction & learning »