Eighth-graders at Oakview Middle School on April 21 got a taste of what it must have been like to be famous explorers Lewis and Clark.
The students left St. Louis (also known as Oakview gymnasium), and set out on an expedition to find the Western Ocean and return safely.
The students worked in groups of five people. The groups created names for their expeditions (Lewis and Clark’s was known as ‘Corps of Discovery?), elected a group leader, created a logo and flag, and decorated their supply trunk.
The week of the expedition, each group received a list of supplies they would need and tokens (money) to purchase the supplies the day of the trip.
Traveling from St. Louis (the gym), each group went with a Native scout (parent), and moved through 11 stations. Each station was focused on an objective from one of the subjects taught in school (math, science, etc.).
Each station involved a task requiring skills used in those subjects, and also similar to the tasks Lewis and Clark encountered. Groups received one token for each level of achievement.
Students had to be mindful of roadblocks along the way, and success during the expedition was measured by how many tokens the students returned with.