Discovery Launches Educational Travel Program

• By Scott Aronowitz
• 03/25/09

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Discovery Education has announced the launch of Discovery Student Adventures, a program that gives students in grades 5 through 12 and their accompanying teachers the opportunity to experience a real-life adventure in one of eight exotic destinations. The trips, scheduled for summer 2010, include the Arctic, Australia, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, Italy and Greece, New Zealand and Fiji, and South Africa.

The program seeks to immerse students in the study of cultures and environs different from their own in locations all over the world. In the months prior to the trip, students are provided with assignments, destination videos and other resources to prepare and excite them for their journey.  Teachers also are offered a variety of resources, including lesson plans and videos related to each destination to use in their classroom and to engage students traveling with them.

Teachers of grades 5 through 12 are also encouraged to volunteer to join the adventures as chaperones. They will work accompany students on the trips and participate in the adventures, and they may be able to earn continuing education credits for the work they do as chaperones.

The program cites as one of its goals to take students beyond the normal tourist activities in each locale and make the experience truly hands-on. Possibilities include spending the night in a snow cave in New Zealand, camping among ancient Inca ruins in Ecuador, or witnessing sharks in their natural habitat from a dive cage in Africa. Students on one of the adventures will even be accompanied by Animal Planet Chief Ocean Correspondent Philippe Cousteau.

Discovery Adventures has partnered with World Adventures Unlimited, a subsidiary of Ambassadors Group, a leading educational travel provider, to implement and operate the trips. Teacher applications are currently being accepted, and students may begin submitting applications on May 1.