The League of Young Explorers
The League of Young Explorers or LYE for short is a program that was developed at ASAC to provide students with a general narrative of world history and the links between various modern and ancient cultures. In concert with recent emphasis on cross-curricular connections the program combines exercises in Geography, English, History, Social Sciences, and even Math.
The format of the program is similar to the Montessori formula in that it allows students to explore and use imagination to drive learning. Public curriculum at the elementary level is very limited in terms of world history, geography, and basic scientific concepts. It is even less developed in terms of providing a coherent, big, all inclusive picture of history and science. However, by providing students with a general timeline and conceptual framework for science and history we are initiating an organized and interconnected understanding of concepts and ideas.
During the program students use globes instead of maps, and work to create a timeline from the early BC years of civilization to our modern era. The experience and project based activities help students gain understanding that support other subjects of study in school.
Projects
Below are some of the projects in which your children will participate as part of the program:
The Spread of People
Topic: Humans have evolved in Africa about 6 million years ago – from there they have journeyed over to the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and across the Bearing Strait to the Americas.
Activities: Learning the continents and oceans, mapping the movement on the map and then on the globe; imagining the life of those first people.
Concepts: 2D vs 3D shapes – earth as a sphere vs. flat map, size and scale of earth, oceans, continents, literacy and numeracy, creative storytelling.
Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt
Topic: : The Cradle of Civilization – an area in the Middle East with much ancient history and the birthplace of writing. The peoples who ruled it and lived in it over the millennia. Exploring mythology.
Activities: Watching a video, learning about ancient writing and trying it out, writing stories about people living at the time, learning about how life was different back then.
Concepts: writing and the meaning of letters, development of ideas and technology, The Ziggurat, Stylized vs. Realistic representation.
The Great Timeline
Topic: Create a full and inclusive timeline of the general history of human civilization.
Activities: Visually representing all the information learned in the program in a meaningfully organized (temporal) manner, use math skills to count years and estimate position on the timeline.
Concepts:understand the time BC/AD and the concept of the year “0”, timeline organization, big picture, passage of time.