Director of learning and instruction outlines "learning expeditions" model for DBSD classrooms

The Denali Borough School District's director of learning and instruction explained the district's model of "learning expeditions" during a board work session, describing them as extended, standards-linked thematic units that aim to make learning compelling and authentic for students. "I can describe how a learning expedition can be compelling and authentic for students," the director told the board.

She said an expedition typically opens with a hook to engage student interest, then anchors around three separate investigations (projects or case studies) that run two to six weeks each. Those investigations are linked by a guiding question and academic standards and usually culminate in a product or performance students could not create before the unit. The model intentionally integrates experts, repeated field work and, in some cases, service learning so students engage in authentic research and inquiry rather than rote memorization.

The director noted literacy threads are embedded across expeditions, with reading, writing and speaking standards integrated into units grounded in science or social studies. She pointed to local examples shared during the session: a water-quality study that led students to test local samples and present findings to a borough meeting, a meteorology unit that partnered with a NOAA meteorologist and produced student newscasts, and an interdisciplinary project on wolves that connected students with biologists.

Staff told the board many teachers do shorter case studies (two—six weeks) rather than full multi-semester expeditions but that either format can employ the same levers: community experts, field work and culminating exhibitions. The director asked teachers to review two externally documented expedition write-ups and offered to collect and encourage formal write-ups for district examples so schools can standardize documentation of the model.

Board members and the superintendent discussed how expeditions align with the district strategic plan's emphasis on authenticity and character development. The director said professional learning this year has focused on expeditions and asked the board to expect further examples and potential training resources.

The work session portion ended with an invitation to teachers to draft formal expedition descriptions that include experts used, field work performed and exhibition plans; staff flagged that some district examples are not yet written up in that format.