Creating a flexible and collaborative environment

The Pitsco Learning Environment

The Grades 6-9 Pitsco classroom is a dynamic, energetic space. In this environment, students take ownership of their learning and work collaboratively through each Expedition – problem-solving their way to unique solutions.

Expeditions are designed to blend teacher-led instruction with collaborative student-directed activities. Because of this, the environment must be flexible, enabling all participants to easily transition between the different types of learning styles presented.

Classroom Implementation

Expeditions can be implemented rotationally or at a whole-class level. In a rotational setting, each pair of students works on a different curriculum title. Upon the completion of a title, students rotate to a new theme and are assigned a new partner.

In a whole-class implementation, all students in the classroom work through the same material at the same time. This gives the teacher the ability to cover concepts with the entire class should that be desired.

Because of the flexibility of the program, each Expedition can take anywhere from seven to 15 days to complete. The format of the program, rotational or whole class, should be determined in advance as the amount of equipment and supplies varies greatly between the two forms of implementation.

A few things to consider when planning an Expeditions implementation:

• Rotational or whole-class instruction
• Maximum number of students in a class period
• Number of class periods or cohorts that will experience Expeditions
• Number of years for which you desire to purchase licenses
• Standards to be addressed by the program

Classroom-Friendly Technology

Expeditions are delivered via a proprietary, cloud-based learning management system.

Students access their content, complete on-screen interactions and assessments, and view their progress through each Expedition using the system. Instructional content is delivered via multimodal methods including audio, video, and hands-on activities. Each Expedition also has an associated logbook that students work to complete as they progress through each title. Game-based learning activities are also included to provide feedback on students’ understanding of the content.

Teachers have a wealth of tools and resources at their fingertips through the teacher portal of the learning content management system. Customizable grading rubrics, assessments, and a variety of reports are available for all titles within the system. As long as Internet access is available, teachers can browse their library of Expedition titles and view the content of any page, anywhere, at any time. Flexibility and teacher ease were at the forefront of the platform development, and the many tools, resources, and built-in functionalities reflect that.

Furniture for the Dynamic Classroom

Our furniture is designed to meet the needs of educators and middle-level students alike.

The middle-level sVision and FLEX furniture options are ergonomic and spacious in their design, providing student teams a large workspace while enabling easy access to the needed technology, equipment, and supplies. The workspaces are large enough to accommodate hands-on activities yet small enough to allow for unobstructed teamwork and flexible classroom layouts.

The FLEX furniture series is ideal for schools that need to get creative with the space they have available. The design is durable yet lightweight and allows for easy reconfiguration to fit a variety of learning environments.

Each furniture piece is built for quality in our US-based manufacturing facility to tolerances measured in a thousandth of an inch. The same talented, hardworking team of people who build the furniture also install it in the classrooms to ensure quality and durability are sustained.

To learn more about our entire line of classroom furniture offerings, download our furniture brochure.