International School for Earth Studies: Gap Semester

The educational programs offered by the International School for Earth Studies are all specifically designed to nurture, enhance and stimulate environmental literacy and add to academic studies by direct experience and observation in structured activities and field studies.

The Gap Programs are specifically designated for co-ed students ages 18 and up who are working through their gap year studies (i.e., A-Level, International Baccalaureate, Pre-U, Highers or Advanced Higher levels of study).

The following gap sessions are structured learning experiences that will provide program participants with outstanding opportunities that will broaden their understanding of how human beings and their society relate to each other as part of global ecosystems.

The intention is twofold:

• To evoke the realization that self and "the environment" are inseprable parts of a dynamic whole, and;
• To stimulate the realization that one is capable, each in our own way and to varying degrees, to live and work in a manner that will ensure that humanity might continue to survive.

It is important to note that Earth Studies' programs are not focussed on the teaching of activism or behavioral change per se. All of our programs are focussed on capacity building -- to increase our students' confidence and their capacity to act as environmentally literate citizens -- based on the knowledge and the personal experience they will accrue while participating in seasonal Gap Sessions.