What is Adventure Learning?
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.
Location: Fennoscandia (Sápmi)
- Sweden, Norway and Finland
Culture: Sámi
Environmental Issue:
Deforestation
Time Line: February - May 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.
Find
out more at PolarHusky.com.
Past Projects
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.
Learn how to effectively and creatively design and
deliver courses online to benefit your program area, your
school, and your district. Only four course are required—and
they count toward a mater's degree in learning technologies!
Find
out more!
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