Adventure Park at Virginia Aquarium and Princess Anne School Named Model Partnership

March 17, 2017 - The Adventure Park at Virginia Aquarium and the Princess Anne Elementary School have been selected as a Model Partnership by the Virginia Beach City School System. The accolade was the result of the two entities partnering to create a unique STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) program for 5th Graders. The School and Park created an instructional program that proved conclusively that learning can be fun and fun can be educational. -Especially when taught with a zip line.

The Adventure Park is known as a recreational venue offering climbing and zip line activities in the trees at Virginia Aquarium enjoyed by thousands of adults and kids every year. After one very successful Parent Teacher Association event there in 2015 that drew over 350 participants, Princess Anne Elementary School teacher, Andrew Shippy, felt the Park could become a resource for learning as well as fun.

"I wanted to create something I knew they would find extremely fun and educational at the same time," Shippy said, adding that The Adventure Park enthusiastically worked with his team to develop a special program that would help students learn while they climbed and zip lined in the treetops.

The result was a program event that engaged Princess Anne Fifth Graders in three different learning activities while they traversed the Park's treetop challenge crossings and zip lines: In one activity, they helped the Park measure and figure the quantities of night time lighting required along the Park's aerial trails. In another they studied the physics of zip line angle and tension. In the third they learned communication and collaboration skills through games and problem-solving activities. (There were no recorded instances of students falling asleep in this class setting!)

The program was a huge success with students, parents and teachers. "My students really saw that solving real-world problems can be fun; that learning involves being immersed in team work and perseverance and risk-taking," said Shippy, who is scheduled to share his experience in designing this project with other school division teachers. He added, "Many times, there can be a gap between what is learned in the classroom and how it can be used outside a school setting. This project closed that gap."

Kema Geroux, spokesperson for The Adventure Park, said, "We care about our community. We want to be relevant in the lives of people who live here. And it's great that ideas generated by local teachers and students help us show people the fun and benefits in store for them when they visit The Adventure Park."