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Summer Institute
St. Margaret’s 2025 Summer Institute
Experiential Education and Constructivism: Meaningful Engagement From Preschool to High School
June 13-14, 2025
June 13-14, 2025
St. Margaret's Episcopal School
San Juan Capistrano, California.
San Juan Capistrano, California.
Register now! The St. Margaret’s Summer Institute will return on June 13-14, 2025 at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in beautiful San Juan Capistrano, California.
This summer, we are inviting educators from all grade levels—preschool through high school—to join us for a transformative, hands-on professional development experience grounded in constructivist theory, place-based learning, and transdisciplinary approaches. While set in the beautiful coastal environment of California, the learning is designed to transcend location, allowing teachers to bring these powerful principles back to their classrooms no matter where they teach.
On Friday, June 13, choose from one of three immersive workshops, each rooted in the idea that students learn best by doing, reflecting, and connecting their learning to the world around them. Each workshop is designed to foster active, inquiry-based, and student-centered learning that aligns with constructivist theory—where knowledge is built through experiences and active engagement.
The workshops include:
Into the Blue: Embracing Challenge and Self-Discovery Through Ocean-Based Learning: In this immersive workshop, you'll explore the transformative power of risk, challenge, and reflection, using the ocean as a dynamic classroom. Together we will engage in hands-on activities like wave science and reflection through journaling and photography. You will read memoirs blending surfing, struggle, and self-discovery, deepening your understanding of how personal narrative and place-based learning intersect. This workshop models a student-centered approach that connects heart, mind, and body.
Oceans of Wonder: Perception, Place, and the Natural World: Explore the natural world through both scientific inquiry and artistic expression. By immersing yourself in the local ecosystem, you'll discover how to help your students develop a deep connection to their environment and encourage them to observe, question, and reflect on the world around them. This workshop blends scientific inquiry (biology, ecology, environmental science) and art (sketching, journaling, photography) to promote holistic, hands-on learning—an essential component of constructivism.
Waves of Belonging: Surfing, Subjectivity, and Stories: This workshop will take you into the heart of California's surf culture, where you'll explore how identity, community, and personal stories shape our understanding of a place. Through storytelling, history, and the cultural significance of surf culture, you’ll learn how to help students reflect on their own identities while connecting to the broader world through place-based learning. This is an example of how constructivist learning helps students create personal meaning and understanding through experience and reflection.
On Saturday, June 14 we will gather for a keynote speaker, a day of reflection and application with fellow educators to discuss your experiences and explore how to bring these constructivist, place-based, and transdisciplinary learning strategies into your own classroom. The day will finish with a panel session.
Attendees will leave the St. Margaret’s Summer Institute with practical tools, strategies, and a fresh perspective on how to create meaningful, student-centered learning environments that encourage inquiry, reflection, and connection to the world. Whether you’re teaching in California or anywhere else, you’ll be ready to inspire your students with new approaches to learning that nurture curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking.
2024 Recap
St. Margaret's played host to early childhood educators, administrators and policy makers at the inaugural 2024 Summer Institute. Over two full days of enlightening and research-based professional development, the 2024 program explored the essential role of play in early childhood education.Attendees from around the nation included local Orange County and Los Angeles County educators as well as participants from Washington D.C., Texas, Northern California, Tennessee and Maryland. The program included presentations from keynote speakers, classroom observations at St. Margaret's renowned Early School, workshops, panel discussions and more.
Dr. Cris Lozon, St. Margaret's Early School director, expressed the transformative impact of the Summer Institute on the professional development of educators and policymakers, "The institute provided a unique platform for our teachers and guest speakers to share their expertise and for the attendees to witness theory in practice, fostering a sense of growth and progress in our collective understanding of early childhood education."
Click here to read a full recap from the 2024 St. Margaret’s Summer Institute.
St. Margaret’s Episcopal School
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