Episode 061: Exploration High School Interview with Nathan Strenge & Sam Neisen on Founding a Learner-Centered Learning Environment

Shift Your Paradigm: From School-Centered to Learner-Centered

Today we are speaking with Nathan Strenge and Sam Neisen. Nathan and Sam will be launching Exploration High School in the fall of 2021 – a learner-centered environment designed to empower youth to contribute to a healthier, more equitable society.

Nathan’s drive to transform education and open Exploration High School comes through his belief that all people deserve to learn in an environment that adapts to their unique gifts and needs. He has a decade of experience as a teacher leader and is now a Senior Learning Designer at Fielding International, where he helps schools and districts around the world (including Salisbury) to transform to a learner-centered paradigm through integrated design.

Education is in Sam’s blood; both of his parents were k-12 public school teachers and the drive to put kids first to solve the problems of today and tomorrow motivates Sam to launch Exploration High School. Sam’s background is in teaching high school humanities, having taught both internationally and locally. Sam’s experiences as an educator led him to opportunities such as being an Open Way Learning Fellow and winning the WCCO Educator of the Week Award.

Here is what we are thinking about?

• What might be if you built a learning environment from scratch in your community?

Resources

• Exploration High School
• A conversation with Sam and Nathan – Education Reimagined
• Defining and Measuring Student-Centered Outcomes from Education Evolving
• Articulating the Change: What do we mean by a learner-centered paradigm?