What is Adventure Learning?
Eden Lake Elementary teacher John Clay shares how he uses PolarHusky.com in his classroom. See John's video and videos from teacher explorers on the trail.
Adventure learning (AL) is a hybrid distance education approach that provides students with opportunities to explore real-world issues through authentic learning experiences within collaborative learning environments.
Dr. Aaron Doering has pioneered work in the area of adventure learning developing a theoretical framework to guide AL projects throughout the world. This framework includes:
- a researched curriculum grounded in problem solving,
- collaboration and interaction opportunities between students, experts, peers, and content,
- the utilization of the Internet for curriculum and learning environment delivery,
- the enhancement of curriculum with media and text from the field in a timely manner,
- synched learning opportunities with the AL curriculum,
- pedagogical guidelines of the curriculum and online learning environment, and
- education that is adventure-based.
To see this framework in action and to discover the excitement of adventure learning and the positive impact it can have on learning, you can participate in the 2008 expedition to Fennoscandia at PolarHusky.com.
What is GoNorth!?
GoNorth! is a free adventure learning
program for the K-12 classroom developed at the University of
Minnesota. Our team of educators, scientists, and K-12 teacher explorers are
dog sledding LIVE to 5 circumpolar Arctic locations (2006 -
2010) to educate our audience around the world.
The online education program is anchored in natural and social science curricula for K-12 classrooms. GoNorth! provides each participating classroom with a free 300+ page curriculum and activity guide, a different set for each trek. Activities on the trail are synched real-time to the curriculum.
Each spring, during the 14-16 week LIVE event, learners enter the online classroom for powerful collaborative opportunities. We present live field updates and field research findings in collaboration with NASA and the National Science Foundation.
The result is a community of motivated learners on the Internet acquiring knowledge from the expedition, the Arctic peoples, subject matter experts, and from each other.
Join the team and more than 3 million learners worldwide at PolarHusky.com.
GoNorth! Greenland 2010
Location: Greenland
Culture: Kalaallit
Environmental Issue:
Marine exploration
Time Line: February – May 2010
During GoNorth! Greenland 2010 learners around the world will explore the effects of Marine Exploration, experience the realities of Arctic climate change, and expand the knowledge of the Arctic.
Find out more at PolarHusky.com.
Past Projects
GoNorth! Nunavut 2009
Our international team of educators, scientists and explorers set out on GoNorth! Nunavut 2009 to explore the effects of Transboundary Pollution, experience the realities of Arctic climate change, and expand the knowledge of the Arctic.
GoNorth! Fennoscandia 2008
Joined by learners around the world, our international team of educators, scientists and explorers set out on GoNorth! Fennoscandia 2008 to explore the prospects of deforestation, experience the realities of Arctic climate change, and expand the knowledge of the Arctic.
GoNorth! Chukota 2007
With a focus on culture and mineral exploration. GoNorth! Chukotka 2007 traveled the last secret outpost of the former Soviet Union. Geographically isolated, the peninsula is considered one of the least known places on earth.
GoNorth! Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 2006
With a focus on culture, global climate change, and oil exploration. GoNorth! Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 2006 was an adventure learning program focused on the region of the Alaskan Arctic from Circle to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. From March - May, 2006 five men and one woman dog sledded this region providing a learning opportunity for over three million students worldwide.
Arctic Transect 2004
For six months, five men and one woman dog sledded the Canadian Arctic from Yellowknife, NWT to Pond Inlet, Nunavut. Interacting with seven Inuit communities, this adventure learning program reached over three million students focusing on traditional ecological knowledge, global climate change, and culture.
Earn a certificate in distance learning at the University of Minnesota.
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