ExTerm
What is ExTerm?
ExTerm at Abington Friends School is an experiential, week-long study in which students work hand-in-hand with faculty to explore interests. Each ExTerm cohort is designed and led by two faculty members from different disciplines who have come together to develop an interdisciplinary approach to a particular topic or theme
Serving students in grades 9-11, ExTerm faculty create interdisciplinary learning environments where Upper School students take one class for the entire ExTerm. Through field trips, outside speakers, and collaborative workshops, ExTerm students must use critical thinking skills to consider ideas from different perspectives.
* indicates a student-led ExTerm
2024 ExTerm Course Descriptions
Biomimicry: Unleashing Nature’s Secrets in Design
Focus: The interdisciplinary nature of Biomimicry, an innovative approach to design that draws inspiration from nature’s time-tested solutions to complex problems. Students observed and interpret biological/ecological systems, extract design principles, and apply them to human-made technologies and solutions. Through visits to the Morris Arboretum (with special emphasis on their LEED certified building), explorations of the fields and forests in and around AFS campus, trips to Alverthorpe and Abington Art Center, and discussions with a plastics engineer, students developed plans to design/build/create prototypes inspired by nature in response to a current AFS campus need.
Chinatown and Communities of the Future
Focus: What makes a healthy community for the future? The team explored Philadelphia Chinatown’s past, present, and future, and engage different pathways for examining a current issue. Students investigated Chinatown from historical, political, economic, sociological, and cultural perspectives, learning along the way about how the community can engage with political issues through meetings with activists, journalists, and community members. Each day featured trips to Chinatown, where the team worked together at the Ginger Arts Center, a new youth-oriented community center run by Students for the Preservation of Chinatown.
Wissahickon: It’s the Schist!
Focus: The geology, biology and botany of the local region. Students experienced an immersive ExTerm at Wissahickon Valley Park, where students will explore much of the 50 miles of trails by hiking over 4 miles daily. Collaborating with the Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers, students will participate in habitat restoration and trail maintenance.
Should Museums _____?
Focus: Museums and their place in the world and our culture. We will take field trips to the Barnes, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Penn Museum and Mutter Museum. The rest of the time will include research and interacting with local experts as we work from our homebase in Upper School.
Setting the Periodic Table
Focus: The intersection of science and cooking/baking. We will spend each day learning about the scientific principles underlying what we eat and how we prepare our food. This will include principles such as heat curves, the Maillard reaction, emulsification, the molecular structure of candy, yeast/leavening, and freezing point depression. We will engage in laboratory investigations around these principles as well as some cooking and taste testing.
Name, Image and Likeness: for all, for AFS, for You
Focus: How student-athletes can tell their stories and profit from their name, image, likeness. We learn the history of NIL through a variety of sources and analyze the impact of NIL today by meeting with current athletes, educators, professional business people, and more. We visit a local college and spend time with people immersed in NIL to help develop students’ abilities to tell their stories, culminating in creative projects, policy proposals, and more with real world applications and significance.
Puzzle it Out
Focus: The varied logical and creative forms of puzzles. We explore, solve, and create different types of puzzles. Based on student interest, their final project will be to create a puzzle experience for another group of students: an escape room or a scavenger hunt to be used for a student retreat in the fall. We participate in an escape room experience in Center City, and learn about puzzle creation from guest speaker, Eric the Puzzler.
Harmony by Design
Focus: The aesthetic consideration of landscape design and plant cultivation. We learn the principles of design, and immediately apply them to gardening, flower placement, and an original succulent arrangement. Visits to our on-campus growing spaces, as well as a trip to Morris Arboretum will provide hands-on, outdoor experiences. We will discuss the ecological, psychological, and sensory appeal of a variety of plant species, with a special focus on eco-conscious decision-making.
Criss-Cross Applesauce: Children’s Books Are Magic
Focus: What’s behind the magic of children’s books. We explore what makes children’s literature so magically engaging and meaningful before writing, illustrating, binding, and publishing our own children’s books. Our course of study involves working closely with the AFS Catbirds, one of the early childhood classes here at school, to reinvigorate our own pre-k fascination with storytelling as a socially rich experience, and to explore what excites and engages our target audience–children!
Engineering Exploration*
Focus: Hands-on projects to inspire student interest in engineering and related fields. We learn essential knowledge about engineering which are then applied to innovative problem-solving activities through project-based challenges, like creating mousetraps and bridges. This course will require students to think and innovate, but despite it being challenging, it will be an engaging and memorable experience. We visit Drexel Engineering Lab and work with the engineering firm of Johnson, Mirmiran, and Thompson.
Culture and Exploration in Philadelphia
Focus: Various local and global cultures. They will taste and learn about various cuisines. They will help tend to a community garden created in honor and support of the Puerto Rican immigrant and Latinx community. Other activities will include exploring architecture in Chinatown, participating in a dance workshop at Taller Puertorriqueno and engaging with local history at the African American museum. We will look at what brings culture to life, how it fosters a sense of belonging and sustains collective joy. Students will take the following trips: workshop at Taller Puertorriqueno, exploring global cuisine at the Reading Terminal Market, Tour of the African American Museum, visit to Chinatown, and Mexican cooking workshop at Casa Mexico.
New Kids on the Block: How Immigrant Businesses are Shaking Up Philly
Focus: The vibrant tapestry of immigrant entrepreneurship in Philadelphia. To develop a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges of immigrant entrepreneurs in Philadelphia, we will visit a variety of communities, government agencies and nonprofits.
Storytelling through Dance*
Focus: How movement and dance are a form of storytelling. We will view professional productions on film and on Broadway, experience a wide variety of dance forms through on-campus workshops with professionals in Bollywood, West African, Black American Folkloric, and Scottish cultural dance forms, and create their own stories through movement.