The Bellows Institute is developing STEM Practicums, a new approach for re-centering science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) as a vital part of our next generation’s education. We seek funding to move from a pilot project status, which is meeting with success, to full operation. Our funding strategy is to bring together a number of like-minded donors who will support a phased operation to reach its goal of benefiting all Arizona junior high and high schools within three years.

Moving From Pilot Project to Full Operation: Pat Dolan and Stephen Boyle, the founders of The Bellows Foundation, have contributed over $400,000 to-date to bring STEM Practicums to its current pilot project status. The Foundation is also making a $30,000 in-kind donation to The Bellows Institute, consisting of a 2000 Ford Van, a 1996 GMC Suburban and office equipment and furniture for its expansion plan. To insure the future financial self-sufficiency of STEM Practicums, we plan to build a series of commercial Development Simulators (see below), which will contribute profits to The Bellows Institute.

Organization: STEM Practicums is a program of The Bellows Institute (“Bellows”), which, in turn, is a division of The Bellows Foundation, formed in 2004 as an Arizona Non-Profit Corporation and a 501(c) 3 Public Charity. See www.bellowsinstitute.org for biographical and background details.

The Catastrophe of Arizona Education: The transparent deficiencies of Arizona education have been the subject of seemingly endless debate. And seemingly endless institutional gridlock has stymied urgently needed reform, as reflected in this list of particulars:

• 49th in the nation in state and local per capital spending on K-12 education.
• 43rd in the nation in percentage of high school graduates who go on to college.
• 35th in the nation in state and local per capita spending on higher education
• Less than half of Arizona’s public high school graduates qualify academically to enroll in public universities.
• For every 100 students in the ninth grade; 64 graduate from high school four years later; 18 enter a four-year college program within one year; only 9 complete their bachelor’s degree within six years.

Arizona education, by any measure of student learning outcomes and dropout rates, is in a state of catastrophe: a phenomenon that is inflicting great damage on our next generation, our economic future, our quality of life, our national security and the soul of the nation—our American Dream. And these conditions are glaringly exacerbated in Arizona by an irresponsible State Legislature that has consciously driven Arizona education to the bottom of the national rankings. Accordingly, we believe that Arizona is the ideal place to launch STEM Practicums because it has the unique capacity to gain national attention if it reverses this disastrous course that is, inexorably, leading Arizona to a third-world status. First, we must motivate Arizona students to re-engage in their education. Next, we must reverse the Arizona student dropout rate. And we must decisively transform their learning environments to able them to master the competencies that will prepare them for creative, productive and responsible participation in our emerging global society and work environment.

In other words, we see the potential of STEM Practicums to create a natural, evolutionary advance in Arizona education that could lead to a replication of success across the entire U.S. educational system.

The Mission: To provide Arizona junior high and high school students with a fresh perspective and new rationale for mastering competencies in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) needed to function in 21st century work environments. The building blocks include:

(i) Creating a growing infrastructure to enable STEM Practicums to reach all junior high and high schools in Arizona;

(ii) Immersing Arizona students and teachers in laboratories, centers and industrial facilities that clearly demonstrate the interplay and relevance of STEM in connecting the dots between academic theory, real-world applications, and technological innovations that make a difference in the world;

(iii) Immersing Arizona students and teachers in the organizational dynamics of STEM work environments through the use of Development Simulators;

(iv) Immersing Arizona science and math teachers in a retreat learning environment for revitalization, through a licensing arrangement with New Teacher Academy, an outreach professional development program sponsored by Teachers College of Columbia University; and

(v) Perfecting STEM Practicums student and teacher learning outcomes through research, evaluation and participation by an advisory board of high technology employers.

Creating a Collective Epiphany: Arizona junior high and high school students and teachers will experience a powerful epiphany when they understand the implications of connecting: (i) a good foundation in science, technology, engineering and math, and (ii) mastering 21st century competencies. The epiphany will be that they can make a real difference in their 21st century world—–that their personal creativity will be released, enabling them to bring about vital innovations to solve climate change, pandemics, resource depletion, food shortages, alternative energy needs, pollution and other dilemmas that threaten their sustainable future. This epiphany will move students to believe they can successfully pursue 21st century careers in advanced communications, aerospace, alternative energy, bioscience, and other leading technologies of the future. Furthermore, this epiphany will spread from the students to their parents, who are deeply troubled by the catastrophe of Arizona education. When parents experience the epiphany that their sons and daughters can make a real difference in the 21st century world by acquiring STEM competencies, the Arizona Legislature will also sense that epiphany. Legislators responsible for the disgraceful and dangerous condition of Arizona education will have to answer to energized and mobilized local constituencies that have experienced the epiphany.

Implementation: To provide this fresh perspective and rationale for acquiring 21st century workforce competencies, a form of complementary education must present itself from outside the existing structure of Arizona education. And it must be much more closely aligned with our next generation’s evolved thinking and learning processes than the traditional 17th century classroom model of American education, which was introduced to the American colonies with Harvard College in 1636 and the first taxpayer-funded public school in Dedham, Massachusetts in 1643. This complementary form of education is guided by new research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology and other related scientific fields that suggests our next generation has been socialized in a manner profoundly different from their parents and, accordingly, their thinking and learning processes may be remarkably different, as well. This complementary model of education has three components:

1. Practicum-based learning in STEM work environments: Bellows is underway with the operation of practicum-based learning environments that take students and teachers out of the traditional classroom and out of the organizational dynamics of traditional school settings to immerse them in STEM work environments where they can learn the connections between classroom theory, real-world applications, and technological innovations. The epiphany will come when students (and teachers) are immersed in highly interactive and integrative learning environments, where their specifically researched aspirations and concerns are taken into account in order to achieve closer alignment with their evolved thinking and learning processes. Our Aerodynamics/Alternative Energy Practicum brought 18 high school students and their math teacher to a vertical wind tunnel at a skydiving school to enter a free-fall simulator to become familiar with human aerodynamics.

Then they visited University of Arizona’s Aerodynamics Laboratory, headed by Dr. Israel Wygnanski, where aerodynamic theory was explained and connected to two aerodynamic applications and two resultant innovations: (i) an innovation that increased the lift of the V-22 Osprey aircraft by thirteen percent;

and (ii) an innovation to improve the efficiency of wind turbines by eliminating the standard rotor atop a pylon and substituting a vertical axis design that loses less efficiency when the wind shifts.

This STEM Practicum was met with keen interest by the students, their teacher, and parents. Bellows is approaching laboratories, centers and industrial facilities to be included in upcoming practicums, such as UA’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory; UA’s Biosphere 2; UA’s Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy; UA’s McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship; and UA’s National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade, for a diverse immersion in 21st century interactivity.

2. Development Simulators: All STEM Practicums will include role-play scenarios in a Development Simulator to immerse students (and teachers) in the organizational dynamics of STEM work environments. The role-play scenarios are designed to develop 21st century competencies to include deepening critical thinking, problem solving, ethical judgment, creative collaboration, leadership skills, multi-tasking skills and developing a personal worldview. The overarching objective of the scenarios is to prepare students and teachers for creative, productive and responsible participation in our emerging global society and work environment. These learning outcomes will emerge from role-play scenarios that immerse students (and teachers) in highly interactive and integrative learning environments in which their specifically researched aspirations and concerns are taken into account in order to achieve closer alignment with their evolved thinking and learning processes. The scenarios involve teams of five students (or teachers) at a time. Before entering the Simulator, each team will be presented with an actual case history in the story-telling tradition and given an assigned group task to accomplish within the four-hour duration of the role-play scenario. Instructors will surround the team in the Simulator to play the role of characters who heavily influence the organizational dynamics of the scenario. Each scenario will replicate a STEM work environment and immerse the teams in the practical application of STEM subjects.

For example, the Aerodynamic/Alternative Energy Practicum includes a four-hour role-play scenario about the organizational dynamics of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with a focus on the Apollo 13 rescue.

Apollo 13 experienced an explosion in its Service Module that reduced its fuel, oxygen, battery power and water to such a low level that a safe return to Earth was in serious question. The Apollo 13 mission to land on the Moon turned into a desperate race to improvise unpracticed procedures and to push the teamwork between the flight controllers at Houston Mission Control and the Apollo crew to unprecedented levels.

Student teams in this role-play scenario are pressed to the limit to exercise critical thinking, problem solving and collaborative creativity as they cope with multiple crises and many science, technology, engineering and math components that touch on communication, navigation, extraordinary resource allocation, trial and error simulations, flight dynamics, propulsion, controls and telemetry.

The Apollo 13 rescue was the paradigm case of organization dynamics stretched to its limits, from which students can learn and internalize principles of leadership and collaborative creativity, as well as acquiring an appreciation of the flight controllers’ unshakable determination to save the Apollo 13 crew against all odds.

Advisors assisting in the development of the role-play scenario of the Aerodynamics/Alternative Practicum include Raytheon Vice President Don McMonagle, who is a former astronaut; Dr. Israel Wygnanski of the UA’s Aerodynamics Lab; and Keith Lyon, former head of the Delta Airlines Flight Simulator Center.

3. New Teacher Academy: Given the importance of energizing Arizona science and math teachers, Bellows has become a licensee of the New Teacher Academy sponsored by Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Since 1998, New Teacher Academy has provided a professional development outreach program to help school districts across the U.S. improve the retention rates of new teachers—while simultaneously developing new leaders. The program is focused on reversing the national statistic that 50% of all teachers leave the field within five years of service. Bellows has facilities and land in Patagonia, Arizona to build an educational retreat for Arizona science and math teachers who seek revitalization. These teachers will also benefit from immersion in the STEM Practicums.

Conclusion: STEM Practicums has a highly focused purpose of transforming science, technology, engineering and math from its problematic image in the minds of many students to a much more friendly and highly relevant perception from which they are better served to make sound decisions about their future life-pursuits. But STEM Practicums also has a broader purpose: to wean American education off of its heretofore untouchable 17th century classroom model of education by blending it with connected practicums that become so routine that, within ten years, 30 to 40 percent of the student body of every educational institution will be off school grounds and complementing their education in challenging real-world learning environments. That, we believe, is the natural, evolutionary advance of American education that will rekindle student engagement in their studies, reverse the student dropout rate, and release the pent-up creativity of our next generation that we so badly need to safeguard our sustainable future.

(Fremont rock art of 900 AD found on canyon wall along Calf Creek, near Boulder, Utah)

The ethos of the founders of The Bellows Institute (”Bellows“) is that the institutions of education of any society, in the best cases, are the inner compass of society; the repository of its ideals, its core beliefs that provide vital direction, and its sense of solidarity to sustain itself under the most adverse of conditions. Without educational institutions to play this critical role, societies and their next generations will be absent an inner compass which serves to illuminate their origins; articulate their ideals; provide them with a common vision for the future; preserve and develop sound rules of conduct and intercultural maturity; and help them internalize a cohesive sense of global social intelligence.We believe that American society and American education in the early 21st century are adrift, disoriented and are in a state of ominous degeneration.However, American education is capable of becoming an inner compass for our society when—at the high school and college levels—it connects its separate and distinct academic disciplines to research-guided, integrative, practicum-based learning that is carried out in real-world settings, where theory and application meet; where knowledge is deepened; where student perspective is broadened; and ultimately, where American education interconnects with our times.

This natural evolutionary advance in the interconnectivity of American education to our times will make it possible to prepare American society and our next generations for creative, productive and responsible participation in our emerging global society.The term interconnectivity is fitting because for American education—at the high school and college levels–to become the inner compass of American society it must leave its cloistered existence and come out into the world. It must become an integral and knowledgeable participant of our times. Conversely, key representatives of our times must come into American education to understand its capabilities and to provide the vital insights to help education become that inner compass. When each side informs the other with equal intensity and urgency, a vital interconnectivity will develop.

An Initial “Listening” Was the Catalyst of This Ethos

The examination of fundamental student learning outcomes gathered momentum when Steve Boyle and Pat Dolan, founders of The Bellows Foundation attended an extraordinary student presentation at a gathering of six colleges in Olympia, Washington in October 2004. A composite group of thirteen students, with several days of preparation, were responding to a question posed by faculty members, namely:

“Is there anything missing from your academic education?”

First, the students presented six vital student learning goals that they believe are not effectively addressed in their undergraduate education, as follows:

1. Construct field studies that connect with students’ academic concentrations to deepen meaning and to make classroom-acquired knowledge relevant to the real world of the 21st century.

2. Reconnect with the natural world and indigenous cultures in order to internalize the urgency for safeguarding a sustainable future and have an undisturbed time to carry on the vital process of self-reflection to consider one’s personal worldview and one’s identity in this context.

3. Discover and expand one’s unique creative spirit and range of creative expression.

4. Broaden one’s perspective about real world interactivity, maintain a sense of responsibility to others and participate in the achievement of a just society.

5. Consider a variety of realistic life-pursuits that can make a difference in the world by immersion in real world work environments and by interfacing with men and women who bring intuitive understanding and good judgment from their long experience in non-profit, for-profit and governmental agency domains.

6. Develop a frame of mind and coping ability that allows one to address the realities of life with equanimity and good judgment, rather than succumb to uncertainty, anxiety and depression.

This student perspective was insightful, and also troubling, because the learning goals enumerated above, which the students believe are gaps in their education, in fact, constitute the crucially important learning that prepares students for creative, productive and responsible participation in our global society.

Pat and Steve sat spellbound as the presenting students patiently described their vision of how to close these gaps. They spoke of a creatively collaborative immersion, off campus, in real world learning environments for a sixteen-week semester that could profoundly deepen the meaning of their academic education. They expressed their belief that integrative practicums in real world learning environments would have the realistic potential to: (i) remove students from the enormously distracting barrage of the media, entertainment and advertising worlds, as well as the competing narratives of popular sub-cultures; (ii) create a sense of authentic community and belonging; (iii) lay the groundwork for a learning environment of creative collaboration; (iv) move toward inter-cultural maturity; (v) develop a sense of responsibility to others; (vi) allow space for undeveloped creative expression to surface; (vii) immerse students in situations to develop good judgment and responsible action; (viii) practice living simply and self-sufficiently; and (ix) create the space for self-reflection about one’s personal world view and one’s identity in that context.

Hoping to recapture the powerful impact of their presentation, Steve and Pat invited these students to repeat their innovative thoughts at a five-day Bellows-sponsored Colloquium at the Circle Z Ranch in Patagonia, Arizona in January of 2005.

A total of forty-three students, faculty, administrators, and others were in attendance, representing Alverno College, Daemen College, Deep Springs College, Evergreen State College, Fairhaven College, Hampshire College, New College of Florida, Pitzer College, Ursuline College, Columbia University’s Teachers College, University of Arizona, Texas Christian University and University of Wisconsin.

Also in attendance were Dara Molloy, a Celtic priest and founder of a learning community in the Aran Islands of Ireland; Josiah Bunting III, President of the H.F. Guggenheim Foundation; L. Jackson Newell, former President of Deep Springs College; Dr. Meredith Aronson, the former mayor of Patagonia; and Carol Soth, a highly respected Patagonia educator. Absent, but with us in spirit, were Dr. Lee Knefelkamp of Columbia University’s Teachers College (Steve’s dissertation advisor) and Dr. Gregory Prince, former president of Hampshire College, key advisors.

Over five days of spirited collaboration, the participants of the Colloquium breathed life into a comprehensive vision of how to achieve the vital student learning goals that the students believe are on the periphery of their academic education. We came away from the Colloquium with a sense of optimism because while we know of the gridlock that thwarts educational reform from within, the students showed us an avenue of advance and the internal workings of a sixteen-week student immersion that can take place in real world learning environments beyond today’s high school, college and university settings.

(One group of participants at The Bellows Foundation Colloquium)

In the pursuit of these research questions, Bellows also sponsored “listenings” in Patagonia that included: (i) a ten-day visit in 2005 from twenty-three students, faculty members and administrators from Hampshire College of Amherst, Massachusetts; and (ii) a five-day visit in 2006 from thirteen students and faculty of Earlham College of Richmond, Indiana (see postings in this website for details).

Moreover, an effort has made the past several years to identifying and conceptualizing five real world learning environments (“Learning Centers”)—with surrounding practicum sites in Patagonia, Arizona; Boulder, Utah; Petersburg, Alaska; Idyllwild-Pine Cove, California; and Mimbres, New Mexico. A sixth learning environment in Rwanda is in the planning stage (click on “The Bellows Institute Organization” for details).

The Bellows Institute founders (left to right): Dr. Orlando Blake, Ph.D.; Irma Federico, M.B.A.; Annette Brink, M.B.A.; Steve Boyle, M.A.,M.S.; Netzin Steklis, M.A.(seated); and Dr. Dieter Steklis, Ph.D.

As another example of research-guided, integrative, practicum-based learning, The Bellows Institute has just completed construction of its Mobile Development Simulator. Teams of five students each will enter the Simulator after becoming immersed in a complex case history of an actual occurrence. The role-play scenario presented in the Simulator will reconstruct key decision points of the actual occurrence in order to illuminate the causes of organizational dysfunction and the complexity and uncertainty that is the signature of organizational dynamics. Well-designed role-play scenarios can create conditions in the Simulator that will help the students to further develop their proficiency in critical thinking, problem solving, collaborative creativity, organizational socialization, and ethical decision-making. Scenarios can be designed to develop proficiency in science, technology, engineering and math under realistic conditions. Other scenarios can be designed to develop proficiency in reading, writing, and bringing those skills to bear in affecting the decision-making process of the organization. Furthermore, the various scenarios will help students gain an increasingly sophisticated understanding of organizational dynamics in the non-profit work domain, the public service work domain and the for-profit work domain.

Over a sample four-hour scenario, Instructors who surround the student team in the Simulator will play roles of supervisors, co-workers, consultants, legal counsel, regulators, media representatives and others to create an ever-changing, challenging, realistic, task-oriented environment, while the student team presses forward to carry out an assigned set of goals within the four-hour deadline. The operation of the Simulator is best described as a continuous cycle of: (i) on-going research findings concerning student thinking and learning processes; (ii) changes driven by the research findings will be made in the physical workspace, the equipment, the role-play scenarios and the proficiency of the Instructors; and (iii) careful evaluations will be made of student learning outcomes to modify the research-guided, integrative, practicum-based learning environment in order to better prepare them for creative, productive and responsible participation in the emerging global society.

A case history example for Simulator application will be the Biosphere 2 facility in Oracle, Arizona. Student teams will meet the staff that operates the facility to understand the science, technology, engineering and math aspects of its operations. Overlaying that level of understanding, the student teams will meet several biospherians who spent two years living and conducting experiments in the sealed atmosphere that contained replicas of four regions of the Earth. And, further overlaying that level of understanding, the student teams will become familiar with the significant organizational ordeals and challenges created by engineering flaws, media attacks, loss of faith within the scientific community, interpersonal collisions, mission drift, power conflicts, extraordinary physical and mental fatigue, financial strains, and the very origins of the Biosphere 2 development team. In this context, the Development Simulator will have many scenarios that will immerse the student teams in those critical decision processes that determined the destiny of the project, thereby creating the conditions within the Simulator that have the potential to bring about the desired student learning outcomes.

A clarifying note: To perceive, and to refer to, the Development Simulator as a “vocational” exercise is to misunderstand its purpose and capability. The conditions in the Simulator have the potential to substantially improve the very skills that are the coin of the academic realm, namely critical thinking, problem-solving, approaching complex situations with a broad perspective, rational decision-making, and embracing the values of the commons, particularly given the dangerous realities of 21st century globalization.

The Bellows Foundation is developing this service for small organizations that wish to outsource one of more non-operational services such as certain aspects of administration, legal, and marketing, thereby freeing up their small staffs to concentrate more on their operational activities. In turn, field practicums can be arranged with such groups, allowing Bellows students to gain a familiarity with grass-roots efforts in practicum education, civic engagement and other activities that broaden student perspective and connect classroom theory to applications and practice in real world learning environments.

Bellows involvement in supporting education and civic engagement groups include:
STEP: Student Expedition Program

Bellows is assisting STEP: Student Expedition Program, a Tucson, Arizona-based 501(c)3, which brings STEP’s Alaska Leadership Expedition, involving kayaking treks, to talented, low-income high school students to prepare them for pursuing a college education all the way through to graduation. STEP was $10,400 short in their goal to cover their airfare budget for upcoming treks. Bellows provided $5,000 of matching funds to help close the gap and offered time-tested Bellows-designed marketing materials, as well as carrying out a mailing to promote the fund-raising campaign. The Bellows offices are within STEP’s fund-raising campaign area, and, accordingly, a free biplane ride was offered to any donor who provided $1,000 or more. The biplane is owned by the founder of The Bellows Foundation.

Asociacion de Promotoras de Nogales (APN)

The Bellows Foundation is assisting Asociacion de Promotoras de Nogales (APN), a Nogales, Arizona-based, bi-national, 501(c)3 non-profit, whose mission is to support and promote the well-being of families and individuals in the Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora communities. Through a variety of educational and preventive programs, this organization is addressing economic, health and social issues faced by residents of this bi-national community.

Constructing Circles of Peace (CCP)

The Bellows Foundation is assisting CCP, a Nogales, Arizona-based non-profit, whose mission is to provide services in domestic abuse situations, using the principles ofrestorative justice , namely, an emphasis on bringing the family and community together to heal dysfunctionalities that are caused by violent behavior. CCP is at the center of an important research project sponsored by New York University.

KPUP: Patagonia Community Radio

Some time ago, The Bellows Foundation provided $5,000 of matching funds, as well as designing and carrying out a mailing campaign to raise money forKPUP: Patagonia Community Radio , to help close a time-sensitive gap in their fund-raising efforts. Because Bellows was within KPUP’s fund-raising campaign area, a free biplane ride was offered to any donor who provided $2,500 or more. Subsequently, KPUP closed the gap, including one donation of $2,500.

The Arizona/Sonora Renaissance Group:

The Bellows Foundation has assisted in the formation of The Arizona/Sonora Renaissance Group to rejuvenate and reinforce a shared vision and set of values, and to help develop the future economic prospects of the bi-national Arizona/Sonora region.

Katrina Response:

The Bellows 14-passenger van was driven from Patagonia, Arizona to Baton Rouge, Louisiana several days after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf states to provide transportation to evacuees traveling to Red Cross evacuation shelters in Texas (click on “Project Fundings of The Bellows Foundation”).

Patagonia, Arizona (population 900), at an elevation of 4,050 feet, lies in a narrow valley between the Santa Rita Mountains, which peak at 9,453 feet and and the Patagonia Mountains, which peak at 7,221 feet, at the intersection of Harshaw Creek and Sonoita Creek. Accordingly, the riparian habitat created by the confluence of these creeks provided ideal conditions for clusters of ancient settlements with ruins and petroglyphs of the Anasazi leaving their mark.

The Santa Rita Mountains have the Smithsonian-sponsored Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory at Mt. Hopkins available for astronomy.

The first presence of the Spaniards occurred in 1539 and a century and a half later, the Jesuit priest Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino traveled through the region, establishing one of his visitas—–overnight houses located between the larger missions—–in nearby Sonoita. In 1853, the Gadsden Purchase made the corner of southeastern Arizona, then part of Mexico, a part of the United States, leading to the break-up of vast Spanish land grants by homesteaders, ranchers and miners. Cattle ranching, mining and the railroads have come and gone, leaving Patagonia as a hybrid borderland culture with a population that is over half of Hispanic origin, consisting of shopkeepers, artists, craftspersons, former cowboys, vaqueros, miners and retirees.

The Nature Conservancy’s Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, a world-famous riparian habitat. Home to 300 bird species and a rare Fremont cottonwood-Goodding willow riparian forest and rare plant life. The riparian habitat continues on to Patagonia Lake.

The San Rafael Valley is a rolling savanna of grass, oak and mesquite that was among the places where grassland plants and animals survived during the ice ages—-an ecosystem of great diversity.

Patagonia is 18 miles north of the U.S./Mexico border and one hour’s drive south of the Tucson International Airport. The surrounding Coronado National Forest provides Patagonia with a sense of seclusion and, yet proximity to a major airport.
The Patagonia Field Center has now acquired a full complement of facilities.

(Click once on photographs to enlarge)

The Spirit Tree Inn, practicum site in Patagonia, Arizona.

The 55-acre Spirit Tree Inn, three miles south of Patagonia, has a capacity of 25, two classrooms and a wireless Internet connection.

Expansion will involve the construction of yurts for student housing. This finished yurt is 20 feet in diameter and can house five students comfortably. Standing guard: Mandrake, the practicum site’s mascot.

The facilities include a 4,500 square foot space in the center of Patagonia to enable students and faculty to work on projects including creative expression, economic development, and civic engagement activities.

The facilities also include an in-town space with a meeting area that is equipped with a 35″ TV with DVD/VHS, as well as a wireless Internet connection.

The facilities also include this cottage, facing the Patagonia town common for visiting faculty.

The casita in back of the cottage will be acquire in the near future.

The facilities include a 14-passenger van and a 9-passenger GMC Suburban.

As well as a utility aircraft—a Great Lakes biplane—for maintaining contact during long treks.

Boulder, Utah (population 225) is situated among some of the most awesome features of the natural world in North America, including nearby Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Bryce Canyon National Park and Capital Reef. Boulder is 28 miles northeast of the town of Escalante; 82 miles southeast of Hanksville and the Canyonlands National Park; 186 miles from Arches National Park; and 247 miles from Salt Lake City.

Boulder is located at the top of the map below:

In 1875, Professor Almon Thompson of the second Powell expedition named Boulder after the nearby mountain, which is part of the Aquarius Plateau. Cattle ranching began in 1879. A five-hour drive north of Page, Arizona, Boulder remained isolated, except for pack trains and horses, until the Civilian Conservation Corps built a road that could be used by wagons and automobiles.

The approach to Boulder is across mile upon mile of barren canyon ridgelines. Finally, far below, one can begin to see the edge of a long flat valley that contains the ranching and farm community of Boulder. From the last high point above Boulder, before descending, the community presents itself. Sandstone ridges mark the edges of the long valley.

The Boulder, Utah Post Office, serving 225 residents.

In a quietly spectacular manner, Boulder is very, very removed from contemporary America, and therefore, an ideal location for student self-reflection, among its many other unique characteristics.

Within the town of Boulder is the Anasazi Indian State Park and Museum, with traces of the largest Anasazi village west of the Colorado River. A small portion of the village has been excavated and is available for study. New digs are scheduled.

Don Montoya, with interns, is of Taos origins. He spent over 20 years in the high tech industry, acquired a masters in anthropology, and now heads the Anasazi Indian State Park and Museum in Boulder, which has excellent research facilities.

Along nearby Calf Creek there is much evidence of a cluster of ancient settlements. Looking carefully at the bottom of the far canyon wall, one can just make out one of the most extraordinary and symbolically powerful pictographs in Fremont rock art.

Nonetheless, with a permanent population of 3,100 located in the Inner Passage of Alaska and 120 miles south of Juneau, Petersburg has the dynamics and surroundings to be a unique practicum learning environment. Large cruise ships cannot negotiate the neighboring channels, which help to preserve Petersburg’s original character. It is the base of a large commercial fishing industry of Norwegian origins and a labor force centered in the canneries, earning $7.50 an hour, which attracts young adults (many of whom are students) who frequently work 18 hours a day to maximize their income before leaving. Student immersion in the cannaries and aboard the fishing vessels would be a natural part of the practicum learning environment. There is also the potential for student immersion in the Tlingit culture in Petersburg by way of home-stays and treks with Tlingit guides.

Nearby, there is LeConte, the southernmost tidewater glacier in North America. Offshore, in Frederick Sound, is a large feeding location for approximating 500 migrating humpback whales.

Southwestern Alaska is a temperate rainforest, resulting in lush and exotic vegetation. Annual rainfall is 110 inches, half of which falls in October, November and December. The Petersburg area experiences 18 hours of daylight on the longest summer day. In the summer, day temperatures are approximately 60 degrees, dropping to 50 degrees at night, and water temperatures are as low as 38 degrees near the LeConte Glacier. Wildlife is in abundance: in addition to whales there are black bear, wolves, moose, deer, goats, bald eagles, trumpeter swans, Canadian geese, seals and sea lions. All in all, the biodiversity of the Inner Passage is extraordinary.

Transportation to the remote camps that are within kayaking range of the feeding grounds and LeConte Glacier is provided by DeHavilland Beaver floatplanes or powerboats based in Petersburg.

In the background, the Alaska Coast Range, including Devil’s Thumb, at 9,000 feet.

Rainsuits and galoshes are the routine attire to adapt to the temperate rainforest climate. The blue rubber skirts are worn during the kayaking in order to create a seal over the cockpit to prevent water from coming into the hull of the kayak.

While the rule is to come no closer than 100 yards from the humpback whales, no one has informed the whales, who routinely come to visit.

Heading toward the LeConte Glacier, which is calving large sections of ice that move down the fjord, melting along the way.

The water temperature is approximately 38 degrees. Air temperature is approximately 60 degrees.

This iceberg has tipped over, exposing the portion that was submerged, which contains very little oxygen. The blue hue will quickly change to white as oxygen permeates the ice.

Ahead, LeConte Glacier comes into sight.

LeConte is a tidewater glacier spanning an area of approximately 180 square miles. This photograph was taken a mile and a half away, due to the dense icefield ahead. The lower part of the glacier, where the calving is seen, is approximately 300 feet high.

Petroglyphs are plentiful in the Inner Passage area.

Waiting for the floatplane pickup to return to Petersburg.

On approach for a water landing in the Petersburg Harbor.

Local art in downtown Petersburg.

The Hampshire visit was an important experience for all parties and helped crystalize the ethos of PATAGONIA INSTITUTE. It was also an excellent opportunity to determine the effectiveness of the Patagonia facilities and to make appropriate modifications in their use.

(Click once on photographs to enlarge)

The Spirit Tree Inn, location of Patagonia facilities.

The 53-acre Spirit Tree Inn, three miles south of Patagonia, has a capacity of 25, two classrooms and a wireless Internet connection


Visiting students, faculty and administrators of Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts at the Spirit Tree Inn—-October 6-16th, 2005.


The Patagonia facilities includes a 4,500 square foot space in the center of Patagonia to enable students and faculty to work on projects including community service, economic development, and civic engagement activities.

The facilities include an in-town space with a meeting area that is equipped with a 35″ TV with DVD, as well as a wireless Internet connection.

The facilities also include a comfortable faculty compound that sleeps up to five, located in the center of town, and facing the town common. This facility also is equipped with a wireless Internet connection.

The faculty compound will soon include this casita in back of the cottage with one bedroom and bath.

The Patagonia facilities include a 14-passenger van and a 9-passenger GMC Suburban.

As well as a utility aircraft for maintaining contact during long treks.

To handle the anticipated need for more student housing, the first yurt was purchase. Visiting Hampshire students plunged into the assembly process.

A huddle as the assembly process grew more complex.

Everyone was in quiet awe as the yurt began to make its presence felt.

The finished yurt is 20 feet in diameter and can house five students comfortably. Standing guard is Mandrake, the Center’s mascot.

Earlham College has the longest-running field semester in the country—–consisting of a 16-week field curriculum focusing on the American Southwest. Rosemary Logan, the leader of Earlham’s Southwest Field Studies semester in 2006, is playing a key role in writing the practicum curriculum for the Patagonia facility, with additional curriculum components that as described under the CONNECTIONS TO THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST heading of the navigation bar, above.

Initiated in 1974, Southwest Field Studies (SWFS) is a 16-credit off-campus semester program that combines interdisciplinary academic inquiry with outdoor skills and experiences. With an emphasis on Environmental Studies, the program examines the connections between culture and natural resources in an attempt to better understand the complex issues surrounding modern environmentalism including sustainable development, human managed ecosystems, indigenous rights, conservation ecology, and social justice.

The Setting:

SWFS takes place in and around the vast deserts of the southwest United States and Northern Mexico including the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Great Basin, and Mojave in addition to a focus on the Colorado River Watershed. With some variation from year to year, the program typically involves extended stays at the following locations:

Big Bend National Park, Texas
Saguaro National Park, Arizona
Nogales, Mexico/U.S. Border
Sea of Cortez, Mexico
Grand Canyon, Arizona
Joshua Tree, California

“Ah the Southwest - what a place. Within it you can find everything; from expansive desert land to deep red walled canyons, to small waterfalls and large purple mountains; and within this you have to place yourself somewhere. The biggest myth about SWFS is that you don’t really have to think for 4 months. Out here, thinking is almost all you do.” By a recent SWFS participant.

Sleeping arrangements during the Earlham field semesters vary from on the ground and looking up at the sky, in tents or indoors such as here at the Spirit Tree Inn at the Patagonia Field Center.

Students receive 16 semester hours of credit for completing the four courses below. Field observations, journaling, interviews, service learning, readings, discussions, and an extended independent study form the foundation of the programs’ interdisciplinary, experiential approach.

Natural History of the American Deserts

This course offers an overview of the botany, zoology, and geology of the four major desert regions. Emphasizing field observation and study, students will explore adaptation, distribution, and diversity of flora and fauna in addition to geologic processes and history. The diversity of habitats and geography (from basins to “sky islands” to coastal environments) makes this region a rich area for scientific observation and study.

Environmental Issues of the Southwest

Often using water rights and use as a focusing element, Environmental Issues of the Southwest examines the complex interactions between society and environment from a wide variety of perspectives. Through hands-on study of the San Pedro River-one of the continents thirteen “last great places,” according to the Nature Conservancy, and a historical and socioeconomic examination of water use, students will explore issues of conservation and ecological restoration, environmental ethics, social justice, and sustainable development.

Outdoor Education

This course involves the mastery of wilderness skills in addition to the theory and practice of outdoor education. Using an experiential approach, students will plan and lead trips, teach lessons, facilitate daily activities, and take responsibility for program logistics. Land impact and management issues will also be explored in relation to recreational activities. Typical wilderness components include whitewater canoeing, sea kayaking, backpacking, and rock climbing.

Cultures of the Southwest

There are no environmental problems per se, only problems with how human populations behave in the environment. From this starting point, Cultures of the Southwest will examine the relationship between human behavior and the natural environment in historical, theoretical, and modern contexts. Using two, powerful cultural immersions (the border culture in Nogales and the Seri Indians on the coast of the Sea of Cortez), students will explore issues of globalization, ethnoecology, indigenous rights and self-determination, modernization, and cultural models of resource utilization.

Course Leadership

Leadership for the course is typically drawn from faculty members at Earlham College-a four year national liberal arts college founded in 1847 . Previous leaders have come from such diverse departments as Biology, Education, English, and Art. More than just lecturers, SWFS leaders are accomplished facilitators and orchestrators, eager to share their enthusiasm and expertise as well as learn alongside their students. The small group size (no more than 16 students) and limitless opportunities for hands-on learning make for a powerful and potentially life changing experience.

In addition, visiting faculty and local experts are utilized to provide specialized instruction and new perspectives. Care is taken to design learning experiences that allow students to interact and learn from knowledgeable scholars and practicioners in real world settings. Students frequently cite these interactions as some of the most meaningful experiences of their college careers.

Participants

While SWFS can be a meaningful experience for all, it is particularly appropriate for students with interests in the natural sciences, environmental studies, outdoor education, and natural resource management. Most participants are in their second or third year of college. Spanish language skills and prior backcountry experience are assets but not required. While the majority of participants are Earlham students, SWFS accepts students from colleges and universities throughout the United States. Due to early deadlines and limited space, interested students should contact the program office for application information as soon as possible.

Celestino Fernandez, Board Chairman of San Miguel High School in south Tucson, receives a check for $10,000 from Stephen Boyle, founder of Bellows. The grant was provided to support the extraordinary experiential education component of the high school’s learning environment.

Students of San Miguel attend classes four days a week and spend the fifth day each week working for eight hours in entry-level positions at major business corporations in Tucson. The students greatly benefit from learning to function within sophisticated work environments. Because of the preparation provided to the students by workforce experts on the faculty of San Miguel, the employers are uniformly impressed by the students’ productivity and can-do attitudes.

It is interesting to note that all the income earned by each student is contributed to San Miguel, which covers approximately 70% of the school’s overhead.

San Miguel High School is the newest addition to the “Christo Rey Network” of private high schools with Catholic affiliation. San Miguel opened just over a year ago in a poverty-level neighborhood of south Tucson, where parents of the students must be below 60% of the median income for the State of Arizona.