Experiential education is a philosophy and methodology in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, and clarify values (Association for Experiential Education. Students of experiential education courses engage in a cycle of learning that involves action (the experience itself), reflection (recollection and consideration of the experience), generalization (drawing conclusions from the experience), and application (revisiting the experience with renewed awareness).

Experiential education follows no distinct curriculum; it is rather a philosophy of education that can be applied to any branch of skill or knowledge. That said, it should be recognized that experiential education is commonly associated with outdoor education, a relationship that can be traced back to Kurt Hahn, leader in experiential education and founder of Outward Bound. Many experiential learning courses, Discovery included, retain a component of outdoor recreation.

Character education covers an equally expansive body of instruction, but refers generally to the deliberate address of practices that promote self-awareness and team communication. The most basic elements of character education are nearly impossible to separate from any long-term experiential learning course, because all such courses necessitate that those enrolled engage in repeated team coordination and reflection.

The Discovery Program is an experiential learning course, and as such, lessons will often carry the students out of the classroom and into the surrounding community. In general, Discovery treats the classroom as a space for the “reflection and generalization” stages of learning, while the world outside provides us with the opportunity for action, and later application of the skills and knowledge developed in the classroom.

Throughout the year, students are asked to self-evaluate their attitudes and behaviors based on a “Character Contract.” The Character Contract gives students a chance to improve their awareness and self-regulate their behavior, so that they may continue to improve their learning process as individuals and as a team.

The ultimate goal of the Discovery Program is not to impart a specific body of skills or knowledge, but rather to garner for students the understanding that life itself is an invitation for learning. While the Discovery curriculum affords its students a wealth of opportunity for hands on learning, graduates of the Discovery Program should understand that the choice to accept learning is a personal one, and that once this choice is made the opportunities for discovery are endless.

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