Experiential Learning

Students don’t belong sitting in desks all day passively taking in information. The staff at Palo Alto Preparatory believes that students learn best when they are engaged and find meaning in their own education. Experiential learning, both inside the classroom and outside of it, allows students to deeply engage in what they are learning and immediately apply knowledge to practical skills.

While other students are reading information from textbooks and taking notes every day, Palo Alto Preparatory students are often found learning about chemical processes in a Chemistry lab, identifying native plants and animals on a nature hike, visiting a sky-diving simulator with their Physics class, learning to fly a plane in Aviation, and interacting with heroes of the Civil Rights movement on the Sojourn to the Past field trip.

Our students learn more than just academics. They learn how to communicate and work as a team on the all-school kayaking trip to Monterey Bay and the ropes course trip to the Santa Cruz redwood forests. And they learn how to interact with peers and adults out in the world, gaining confidence in their own abilities along the way.