Experiential Learning

Explore some of the places and programs where students roll up their sleeves, put on their thinking caps, and get their hands dirty experimenting, innovating, and leading one another to achieve.

Sustainability

Our entire School campus–all 360 acres of it—is a living laboratory! Its rolling fields, woods, and ponds, its distinct ecosystems with thousands of trees and hundreds of birds, bugs, and animals, provide ample opportunities to study and practice the science of sustainability.

But we also take our study farther afield, participating as citizen-scientists in the Missouri Stream Team data-collection project and learning about snow-bound ecosystems in the Tetons.

Read about sustainability in action:

• Outdoor Learning Takes Root—and Blossoms
• Sustainability Class Wins State Award
• Dual-Credit Students Get Firsthand Research Experience
• Nets, Tweezers, and Balls Spur Student Research

Entrepreneurship

A freshman entrepreneurship class in the Upper School, business simulations in Middle School, craft and goodie sales in the Lower School—all of these experiences provide numerous opportunities for students to develop entrepreneurial mindsets and skills.

Read more—or watch this video.

E-STEAM

Used by all levels, our E-STEAM Hub is our largest makerspace. It’s an ideal place for emerging entrepreneurs and engineers to tinker, explore, create, craft, and innovate. Spanning nearly 10,000 square feet, the Hub includes a vast robotics room with LEGO stations and competition fields, as well as workstations with 3D printers, sewing machines, a screen printing machine, weaving loom, and more.

Watch our robotics video.

Leadership

Principia upholds its mission of serving the Cause of Christian Science by nurturing the development of young people as ethical leaders and decision makers. School activities intentionally foster inclusiveness, integrity, and character-defining moments. And participationin our multi-grade Houses and smaller Crew groups creates opportunities for every student to get involved, take on responsibility, and lead.

Watch a video about the House system.

Digital and Media Literacy

We integrate digital and visual media across the curriculum, offering students numerous opportunities to be creative while learning to navigate the world of the web with wisdom. Our Lower School teachers introduce students to online resources for specific, structured projects and activities. In Middle School, students take a digital literacy class each year to learn how to effectively use—and assess—the Internet and video for research, news, sharing, and entertainment. In Upper School, students incorporate videography in a range of classes, and they have the option of studying video and film production in our Media and Communications Center.