Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand Oct / Nov 2017: The Travel Issue | Page 47

team. They are marked for their accuracy on using the var-
ious skills they have learned.
These are not just mechanical responses, either. Critical
thinking and teamwork are required, and the exercises are
crafted to resemble a real-life situation as closely as possible.
It’s one thing to be on a three-day program and absorb
it as an isolated experience. It’s another thing entirely to
be able to actually inhabit that experience, and to process
it so its wisdom can be transferred to all other areas of
school, social and personal life. ISB calibrates its wilder-
ness activities to be vehicles for transferable learning —
learning that extends far beyond the moment at hand.
THINKING ABOUT THE
ENVIRONMENT
In his work, Changing Minds: The Lasting Impact of School
Trips (UK), Alan Peacock, Honorary Research Fellow at the
University of Exeter, states:
“We looked at whether schoolchildren’s learning about
their local environment would influence the way they
treat it. We found that not only was this the case, but high
quality, out-of-classroom learning also influenced how
children behave and the lifestyle choices they make. It
shows the potential for schools trips not just to change
individual lives, but the lives of whole communities.”
That is why ISB Wild Panthers isn’t solely focused on the
things that make a successful and safe outdoor learning
program. It also keys in on environmental concerns, such
as water sustainability, which poses a significant issue in
Thailand and globally. The location of ISB’s wilderness
campus in Petchaburi affords students the chance to learn
about this environmental dilemma in a m