Welcome to the beginning of my experiential learning blog series specifically on examples of experiential learning activities. I have been writing about the topic of experiential learning for over a month and have covered experiential learning importance, how to set up your classroom for experiential learning, and have even offered examples of experiential learning methods.

What I haven't done is offer you specific examples of experiential learning activities at play. For the next few weeks I will be laying out and showing you experiential learning activities in action. ​

If Covid has taught me anything it is that no parent or teacher needs any additional stressors, such as coming across kinks and hurdles to getting learning materials to students. When someone purchases a digital resource of mine, I want the process of getting the resource to students to be seamless. Troubleshooting is an additional task that no one needs right now, or ever for that matter. ​

When I was teaching I would get a handful of students every year that had a deep passion for cooking. One particular student was interested in cooking, science, and travel. Together we designed a project-based learning experience that combined those three interests. ​

If you've been following Experiential Learning Depot for a while, you know that my experience and passion lies in self-directed project-based learning, particularly when it comes to science topics (I'm a life science teacher). True student-directed learning encourages and offers ample opportunity for student choice. That includes students determining their own project topics and driving questions. ​

Since schools have been closed I have been working with my young children while simultaneously working on high school experiential curriculum. My child is required to sit at his computer much of the day to work on his school assignments, so to break up the monotony, I have been adding experiential learning activities to the day.

​Everyday we do a hands-on, subject-integrated, activity that follows a theme for the week. I have been adding those experiences and schedules here to inspire other parents and teachers in the same situation. I have also been adding modification ideas, particularly for high school students. 

We currently find ourselves in a very unique situation. Never before have we been required as a society to operate entirely by computer. Of course being confined to the home is not ideal for any experiential educator, but we work with what we have. One silver-lining? The opportunity to work on 21st-century skills such as adapting and problem-solving. ​

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, educators and parents are scrambling to find distance learning resources that are easy-to-implement, free, and are more or less student-directed, especially when it comes to teens. Of course there are the obvious online tools such as Khan Academy, but that can get a bit dull really quickly. If you want to mix things up, check out my collection of go-to websites for secondary students. 

My background is in 9-12 life science, particularly ecology, wildlife, and conservation. I will start by adding my favorite teen life-science websites. Many of these organizations have really stepped up and are offering free memberships as long as schools are closed. 

I will continue to add more online learning resources daily or as they come up. If you know of distance learning websites for middle and high school students that you'd like to share, please do so in the comments. I'd love to get a lengthy catalog going.  Note: This is not a place to sell or promote your products. If you comment with a personal product it will be deleted. FREE online learning websites for teens only. Thank you!