AEE Russia Project
Brian Kunz, Director
PO Box 952
Hanover, NH 03755
E-mail: [email protected]

The Association for Experiential Education’s “Russia Project” is bringing educators from Russia and the US together to develop and promote experience-based learning in the NIS. The project strives to contribute to democracy building by “strengthening the ability of Russian individuals to think critically, independently, and creatively, while working together cooperatively.” Experiential education is a teaching and learning process that combines direct experience with guided reflection and analysis. Many professionals in fields such as education, psychology, and human resources use experiential techniques in their work.

Founded in 1972, the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) is an international professional organization with roots in adventure education, and committed to the development, practice, and evaluation of experiential learning in all settings.

AEE’s Russia Project grew out of an environmental science exchange between Dartmouth College and Moscow State University (MSU) in 1988. The Russian participants showed great enthusiasm for experiential activities led by Brian Kunz, Assistant Director of Outdoor Programs at Dartmouth, and invited him to present workshops on this non-traditional approach to learning in Moscow. Kunz readily accepted, and spent more than three months in Russia in 1989 and 1990.

With funding from AEE and the Bakal Family Foundation, the project quickly grew to involve many interested organizations and individuals. The Russian side included representatives from the Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Labor, and MSU, as well as teachers from the Siberian city of Barnaul. U.S. participants came from universities, high schools, adventure programs, and private foundations. In 1993 and 1994 AEE’s board president, Bill Proudman, conducted trainings for teachers and students at Barnaul’s Russian-American School, and U.S. experiential educators led programs at summer camps in the Altai Mountains in 1995.

A school devoted to experientially based ecological education was created in Moscow in October of 1995. The school, number 803, is funded by Moscow City Government and is co-sponsored by the Institute of Psychology of Russia, whose director is V. Rubtsov. The school works with the Association of Russian Children’s Camps. Alexander Kamnev, long time supporter of experiential education, is the Scientific Head of the school.

The Russia Project owes its vitality to the ongoing dedication of Russians and Americans who are excited about changing Russia’s education system. (Interestingly, Russia had its own proponent of experiential education a century ago—Vasiliy Porfirievich Vakhtorov—thus the project is viewed as a “renaissance.”) Future plans include sponsoring more trainings for Russians in various professions and eventually establishing an institute of higher learning in Russia devoted to experiential education.

For more information, please contact AEE Russia Project above.

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Last updated: May 2 1996

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