Experiential Learning
Place-Based
For more than 130 years, Scattergood students and staff have grown together through a deep connection to our unique physical landscape.
Our certified organic farm provides over 140 varieties of fruits and vegetables for our dining hall and all of the meat we eat as a school (cows, sheep, pigs and turkeys). Students' farm involvement can range from a little: participating in our all-school Harvest Day, starting the year with our interdisciplinary 4-week Farm Term, and enjoying delicious farm-to-table meals... to a lot: creating original scientific research projects, enrolling in Farm Project and PE classes and volunteering during free time and weekends.
Scattergood has over 25 acres of restored prairie which students use for hiking or cross-country skiing during free time and as a laboratory and studio during science and art classes. Students learn about Prairie Management, assisting faculty in the annual prairie burn which helps to maintain grass vitality, control invasive plants and suppress established trees and bushes.
The pond is a great place to swim, find samples and specimens for biology class, light a bonfire or organize a broom hockey game. Students have designed and built a raft and pergola for the pond, among other building and landscape projects.
Project-Based
Real-world problems are not neatly divided into English, History, and Science. Scattergood’s innovative Farm Term and May Term give students an opportunity to explore an essential question through multiple lenses and hands-on inquiry.
For the first month of each year, during Farm Term, High School students have the opportunity to take team-taught, interdisciplinary classes that combine social studies, science, and humanities in outdoor classrooms at the farm.
Both special terms culminate in a celebratory morning filled with Presentations of Learning: opportunities for students to show their whole community the projects they have completed in this time.
Examples of recent Farm Term classes include: Fences, Boundaries & Borders, Trees & Druidry, Landscape, Ecology & Design, Animal Psychology, Climate Change & Agriculture, and Immigration & Labor in Iowa.
During May Term, students not leaving on May Term trips tackle problems that transcend disciplinary divisions, and produce and share high-quality work. Both special terms culminate in a celebratory morning filled with Presentations of Learning: opportunities for students to show their whole community the projects they have completed in this time.
Examples of recent May Term classes include: Play & Playfulness, Capoeira: history and practice, Death & Dying, Ethics of Meat-Eating, Video Games & Society, and Entrepreneurship.
* Trained a chicken to complete an obstacle course using operant conditioning.
* Built a literal fence for the farm, while presenting on the White Picket Fence as a metaphor that enforced segregation.
* Wrote, directed, and produced a short film.
* Designed and built a hugelkultur bed for the farm to sequester additional carbon and add vitality to our soil.
* Designed and conducted a trial to test soil quality: comparing organic and conventional fields with pasture land.
*Created a museum exhibit on end-of-life questions and issues.
*Designed and completed research on children’s play in collaboration with University of Iowa professors and The Iowa Children’s Museum.
*Built an outdoor oven and cooked lunch for the school with it.