Grades 6-8 Teacher Rejuvenation

How Can I Truly Know the World? Experiential Learning for the Developing Adolescent

This year, we turn our attention to the importance of experiential learning and the ways it can support middle school students in finding their feet on this earth, building an inner safety net, and discovering pathways to manage the overwhelming influences of screens, social media, and AI.

Paolo Carini will guide the theme of the week, focusing on the development of manual competence for the contemporary student and the fundamental values provided by experiential learning. It is true that we only really know what we have directly experienced in our lives. Building those experiences by engaging in hands-on activities—whether it is making an artistic project, a science project, or a delicious minestrone soup—helps students develop a real sense of manual competence, and with that the confidence to tackle many other challenges, including those that may be considered purely in the thinking realm or in the ethical and social realm. This confidence is deeply nourishing for the soul and is declining dramatically in today’s culture, leading to feelings of helplessness in the face of life’s many challenges.