Winchester Thurston North’s Student-Forged “Northbound Trail” Provides Cross-curricular Education Experience

The construction of an interactive outdoor trail system that offers students an innovative way to learn is under way at the Winchester Thurston North Hills Campus.

The Northbound Trail system consists of two components: an interpretive trail that features educational “waypoints” or learning stations, and an off trail challenge course. Each waypoint along the trail includes guidebooks with relevant educational information including animal life, plant life and pioneer history. The Challenge Course features low ropes and physical obstacles. 

Led by Stephen Cooper, Physical Education teacher at WT’s North Hills Campus, construction of the Northbound Trail began in the fall of 2011; so far about 1/3 of the planned .75 mile trail is complete.

Students have been involved in every step of the creation of the trail, from planning and mapping to trailblazing and construction.

“The students have really taken the lead and made this trail happen, from planning all the way to doing the physical work of cutting the trail,” said Cooper. “The amount of trail that gets done is all based on student interest and the time they want to commit to it. The students have been so passionate about this project that we always end up doing more than planned.”

Construction and use of the trail have been incorporated into the school’s curriculum and summer camps program. Most recently, third and fourth grade students completed the construction of a log cabin on the trail in conjunction with their Physical Education Adventure Unit and Social Studies/Language Arts curriculum.  The cabin was constructed as the first component of the working “Pioneer Village” which, when complete, will feature a working blacksmith forge, a wood workers shed, a chopping block sawbuck, a Conestoga wagon, a wigwam, campfire ring and trading tables. As the students built the cabin during their Physical Education class, they were simultaneously reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s pioneer novel Little House on the Prairie in Language Arts, and learning about the history of the pioneers in Social Studies.

Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students have been working on a new trail segment called the “Fairy Tale Trail” that will be dedicated to winged creatures and will have imaginative opportunities for play as well as environmental education stops.

When complete, the trail will include 20 waypoints, each with a QR code that links mobile device users to educational resources electronically.

The school plans to open up the trail to outside groups and the larger community for facilitated team building exercises and environmental education programs.

The trail is scheduled to be complete within two years.

About Winchester Thurston School – Winchester Thurston is a nationally recognized coeducational private school in Pittsburgh, PA with a pre-K – 5 campus in Allison Park and a pre-K – 12 campus in Shadyside. Winchester Thurston School actively engages each student in a challenging and inspiring learning process that develops the mind, motivates the passion to achieve, and cultivates the character to serve.