PASSING THE TORCH - UPPERCLASS STUDENTS AS PEER LEADERS FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS

High School freshmen are not always the most motivated of students, and yet in off hours they learn easily and rapidly from their older peers in non classroom situations. A peer coaching program has been developed whereby this passing of the torch from older to younger youth is put to an educational advantage. The youth of our school Physical Geology program are used to teach small groups of the freshmen Earth Science students during a day long field experience. For the upperclasspersons the preparation is considerable and the rewards include the feeling of having a positive effect on a younger peer, which in many instances outshines the grade. Underclasspersons see their older peers in a new roll, that of a student of science, and come away from the experience with a new outlook on the subject matter.