Course Design

Can you remember a sweet moment in your life when you were outside, feeling free, adventuring with a close friend or two?  Cascadia students tend to have a passion if not a deep curiosity for exploring and being active in the outdoors.  They tend to get along well with others and are ready to learn and experience life in new and challenging ways.  If these traits seem to be a match-up, you are a strong candidate for a Cascadia course. 

Here’s some background information on how we designed our courses.  To start out we scoured the planet and assembled the top educators to be found.  Their challenge was to envision and develop adventure education programming that was world class.  Up for the challenge, they rolled their sleeves up and collectively crafted courses guaranteed to be life changing.  For each course a rationale and purpose was developed.  We then defined goals for the instructors and identified learning outcomes for the students. Then the fun began – our team blended these components:

  1. Locate outdoor classrooms within America’s most pristine wild lands.

  2. Engage students in expeditionary learning that incorporates popular outdoor pursuits such as backpacking, camping, rafting, kayaking, rock climbing, canoeing, caving or mountain biking.

  3. Develop learning experiences where students are engaged intellectually, emotionally, socially, soulfully and physically.

  4. Nurture and put high value on relationship building: student to student, student to others, and student to the world at large.

  5. Teach through direct experience that’s active, hands-on, high energy, adventuresome, and friendly in spirit.

  6. Include the possibility to learn from natural consequences, mistakes, and successes.

  7. Identify specific goals and competencies for each identified skill set.

  8. Create “hookers” or motivators to pull students into a lesson and “organizers” to help them keep track of their progress.

  9. Provide opportunities for students to process their direct experiences through reflection and self evaluation.

  10. Infuse fun, zest, and enthusiasm into each and every activity.

     

    Adventure School, Adventure Camps, Camp For Summer, Backpacking Trips

Why Cascadia?