This quarter CAP students at New Vista High School in Boulder, CO explored the environmental impact of population growth. They researched how overpopulation is affecting Boulder County and came across the following topics: Open Space and Mountain Parks trail usage, food production, water use and treatment facilities, waste management, family planning and population density. The… Read more »
Six weeks ago a group of boys and girls from Casa de la Esperanza gathered together in nervous anticipation for the first ever Casa CAP program. Casa de la Esperanza (House of Hope) is a residential community in Longmont dedicated to helping agricultural workers. The learning resource center at Casa provides educational and recreational services… Read more »
From the wilds of the city to the wilds of the Colorado mountains, students from West Denver Prep’s Lake Campus embarked on a journey to learn how to survive amidst the chill of a fall weekend. Cottonwood Institute teamed up with West Denver Prep’s enrichment program to give kids the opportunity to connect to the… Read more »
Community Adventure Program (CAP) students at New Vista High School were deeply impacted by their outdoor experiences this quarter. In CAP class, one of our goals is always to awaken students to their gifts and abilities to make change in their own lives and the lives of people in their communities. The reflections of this… Read more »
Just before school let out for the summer, 11 adventurous girls from Colorado Academy set out on a final mission: wolves. On a warm spring day in May, although the van was stuffed full of fuzzy pillows, makeup bags, and iPods, it was the adventurous spirit of these girls that filled the air with confidence,… Read more »
It was a wonderful final quarter with the Community Adventure Program at New Vista High School this spring! The class joined together to create an action project around gardening and the appreciation of simply grown local food. We visited Growing Gardens and the Flatirons Neighborhood Farm to glean some local information from amongst the many… Read more »
As we wrap up 2009, we are in high gear to hit the ground running in 2010 by kicking off a brand new course called the Organic Gardening Project. During this project, we will camp out under the stars for 2 nights and 3 days at a local organic farm near Boulder, CO. In the… Read more »
The Cottonwood Institute’s educational philosophy is based upon two major tenets: environmental education and service-learning. We wanted to take the opportunity to define these and other pedagogical approaches and techniques used to teach our educational programs. These definitions offer a very broad explanation to complex terms, but attempt to synthesize these key terms into understandable… Read more »
