Learning Outcomes

Yosemite Institute programs are design to create opportunities for the following positive outcomes:

Personal growth

• Improved self-understanding, self-reliance, and self-esteem.
• Improved ability to consider another’s perspective and experience
• Increased comfort and confidence in exploring the natural world
• Increased interest in and appreciation of science, natural history, the environment, community, and the world around them
• Increased belief that their actions can make a difference

Development of interpersonal skills                      

• Improved relationships with others.
• Increased respect for and acceptance of diversity, including differences within and between groups.
• Improved communication skills.
• Improved capacity to understand and explore the role(s) they play within a group. 

Academic growth       

• Improved capacity to make critical observations of one’s surroundings.
• Improved capacity to use scientific methods to inquire about the natural world.
• Improved content knowledge based on the local resources and setting, and the content capacities of that setting.
• Increased knowledge of both natural and human-built environments.

Increased responsible environmental behavior

• Improved capacity to explain the impact of daily decisions and actions on the environment.
• Improved capacity to explain and evaluate the value of national parks, recreation areas, and locally protected natural areas.
• Improved capacity to behave in a manner that promotes stewardship of the environment and community.
• Improved recognition that they can initiate or engage in environmental stewardship in their communities by providing specific examples of actions that they could take.