Fourth graders from Cole Elementary School in North St. Louis got a hands-on social studies lesson last weekend they won’t soon forget, and it will come in handy before the end of this school year.
The learning experience that took 19 students outside of their usual learning environment to a camp 75 miles away in rural Potosi was a supplementary study project for the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP).
Since fourth grade is when Lewis and Clark’s famous expedition becomes subject matter on the MAP test’s social studies component, the YMCA of Greater St. Louis offered its “Climbing Above Conflict” (CAC) program as an educational resource.
CAC is administered at YMCA at the Ozarks. The woodsy grounds are ideal for activities replicating Lewis and Clark’s expedition.
“It gives them a chance to see a new environment and get away from all of the distractions,” said CAC coordinator Edward Nichols.
“They get a chance to focus and pinpoint things they need to accomplish. In the classroom, some teachers might just focus on academics, but we know they have emotional issues and things going on at home, so we try to get them to work together and overcome anything.”
Like Lewis and Clark, who faced a skirmish in the ranks at the onset of their expedition, students learned to overcome conflict by reenacting a fistfight between two of the outfit’s best soldiers.
“Lewis and Clark really wanted those two to go on the expedition, so they forced them to build a cabin together, and in the end they became friends,” said Larry Judy, a camp instructor and director of the YMCA’s Team Works program in St. Louis.
“It’s a creative way to make sure conflict doesn’t destroy things, and it shows them how to work together through conflict and make sure it’s a positive building block opposed to something that’s negative.”
At the Potosi camp, city students literally and figuratively climbed above conflict.
Three students who didn’t want to be teammates were forced to work together and became the first group to the complete the assigned activity.
Students also climbed a 20-foot rope ladder to the ceiling of a gym, confronting a fear of heights in some cases.
The program was fun, enlightening and rigorous. The only day breaks were for meals. Instructors chided students every time they got out of line or caused conflict.
Each activity culminated in detailed discussions, which instructors said is when the learning actually took place. And, like Lewis and Clark, the students recorded their activities in a journal.
After each successfully completed activity, students were given beaver stripes, which they believed to be necessary to receive blankets at bedtime.
“We just try to get them to work a little harder,” Nichols said.
“On hike night, some kids are naturally scared, because they’ve never been in the woods, so that requires them to develop courage. And, since it’s outside, we know they’ll be thinking about getting warm.”
During the half-hour nocturnal hike through the hilly woods, students learned to improve vision in the dark by looking at objects peripherally. The experience gave them insight into the difficulty, harsh conditions and teamwork necessary on the expedition.
Following the hike, students met in a log cabin heated by firewood, ate popcorn popped over a wood fire and drank apple juice, since Lewis and Clark built fires and drank crab-apple juice. Students learned which animals the explorers cooked, such as elk, deer, cows, buffalo, rabbits and turkeys. They also received hands-on lessons in making candles and clothes from scratch.
While inside the cabin, another instructor, Hank Schafermeyer, a retired St. Louis Public Schools teacher, explained that the wood-burning stove inside the dwelling wasn’t invented until years after Lewis and Clark’s expedition. That distinction is line with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s “Grade 4 Benchmark” under Standard 2 (knowledge of continuity and change in the history of Missouri, the United States, and the world).
According to the benchmark provided on their website, students “must have knowledge of the ways Missourians have interacted, survived, and progressed from the distant past to present times” and have “knowledge about individuals from Missouri who have made contributions to our state and national heritage.”
The website states that although Missouri has no official list of such people, students should know about a variety of historical figures, including Lewis and Clark, Mary Easton Sibley, John Berry Meachum, George Washington Carver, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Mark Twain, Harry S. Truman and Thomas Hart Benton.
The CAC students’ teacher, Thomas Vance, a 25-year St. Louis Public Schools veteran, believes in the benefits of the program.
“I think they really learn from doing a lot better than just sitting down reading a book or writing a paper. And this gives those students who are tactile and kinesthetic learners an opportunity to really easily apply skills in a different way and in a different setting,” said Vance.
“They read about Lewis and Clark at school in their social studies class, but they haven’t actually had the opportunity to actually see some of the things that they did in a real life situation. This program has made the Lewis and Clark experience come to life for them n and me, too.”
“I learned a lot about Lewis and Clark. Without this I wouldn’t know much. I know they had conflict, but they worked together and the kids in our school need to,” said one student, Mahogany Wilson.
“One time, I got into a fight and didn’t try to stop it. But I really should have asked her why she hit me and asked her to say sorry. It isn’t worth it.”