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GIRL SCOUT PROGRAM
PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES
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VOLUNTEER RESOURCE
DISC 2008-2009
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GIRL SCOUT LEADERSHIP
EXPERIENCE
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Change is perhaps the
oldest tradition in Girl Scouts. Ever since Juliette Gordon
Low returned from England in 1912 and changed “Guide” to
“Scout” in response to the preference of American girls,
those in the Girl Scout Movement have prided themselves on
their ability to make timely adjustments to fulfill the
evolving concerns of modern girls. Girl Scouts have a long
history of updating clothing, awards, age level groupings,
and so on to meet the needs of girls. While continuing to
maintain the values that have been at our core for 95 years,
the Girl Scout Leadership Development Experience allows Girl Scouts to
remain relevant. The Girl Scout Leadership Development Experience
defines and displays all of the elements that must be in
place to positively impact girls’ lives. The following pages
explain some of the key principles found in the Girl Scout Leadership
Development Experience.
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Council Goals and
Outcomes
An outcome in Girl
Scouting is the benefit for participants during or
after their involvement in the Girl Scout Program or
activity related to the program. There are three
different levels of outcomes in Girl Scouting:
Short-Term/Intermediate Outcomes: these
outcomes are linked to the council goals, the
changes in behavior that result from the
participant’s new knowledge, attitude, or skill.
Long-Term Outcomes: these outcomes are
the ultimate desire for participants…Girl
Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence,
and, character who make the world a better
place. These are the changes that occur in a
girl and often carry over into adult life.
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The Foundational Pieces of
Girl Scouts
The Merriam Webster
Collegiate Dictionary defines foundation as, “an
underlying base or support.” The Girl Scout Mission,
Council Goals, and the Girl Scout Promise and Law are
just that in Girl Scouting, the underlying base, the
items that support all we do are the mission, goals and
the Girl Scout Promise and Law. Everything done in Girl
Scouting is supported by these ideals.
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KEY ELEMENTS OF THE
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE
One of the most important parts of the
Girl Scout Leadership Development Experience is the box that presents the
program processes. The program processes are the activities
supported by the adult leader and how girls are engaged that lead to
the accomplishment of the short-term/intermediate outcomes and
ultimately the long-term outcomes. The program processes include:
The next few pages will provide you
with more information about three of these key program methods:
Non-Formal Education,
Cooperative Learning, and
Learning by
Doing.
Non-Formal Education
Non-formal education uses
intentional learning activities that enable the girl to direct
her own learning and participation. It helps in the development
of life-skills and character. To help understand this concept in
a little more detail, let’s look at the three areas of education
in youth development: formal, non-formal, and informal.
Formal Education- this is what happens in school…a
prescribed curriculum, well planned, sequential and usually
comes from the top down.
Non-Formal Education- this is education that has
outcomes, builds relationships, is less structured than school
and usually requires volunteers to deliver. It is intentional
and develops skills, relationships, and is value based.
Informal-Education- is unintentional and often happens by
“accident.” It comes from family, friends, and the media. It’s
everywhere.
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Formal |
Non-Formal |
Informal |
• School
• Have To’s
• Classes
• Structure
• Grades |
• Relationship Based
• Outcomes
• Choice
• Value Based |
• Friends
• Family
• Media
• “Behind the Barn” learning |
Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning is just how
it sounds… girls working in small groups and teams. Girls work
together to accomplish goals, discover and try new things, share
ideas, and learn from one another. In a troop setting this often
happens when girls participate in troop government/the
democratic process. It’s when a girl works in a patrol to make
decisions, discuss ideas or to complete a kaper.
Non-formal education and cooperative learning work in
partnership. In non-formal education, the adult leader is
deliberate about how she works with the girls, the environment
that is established, and encourages the building of
relationships. Cooperative learning allows relationships to be
built through the small group discussion, decision-making, and
planning. Cooperative learning allows each girl to have a voice
and discover new things about her self and others.
Learning By
Doing - Experiential Learning
Experiential learning encourages
learning by doing. It happens when girls participate in an
activity, reflect back on the activity and make a change in
behavior based on what was learned by the experience. The key to
experiential learning is asking good questions after an activity
or an event. It teaches girls to be inquisitive and question
their own experiences. This helps girls make meaning and apply
it to future experiences.
The Experiential Learning Cycle
The Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC)
is a model that shows how you can work with a group to take
something they experience, ask the right questions, and make
meaning of that experience for future use and application. The
ELC has five steps and can be applied to any group experience.
Let’s take a closer look:
Asking good questions and
discussing shared experiences and data is like painting a
picture of what happened in an experience. By getting everyone
to talk about it the picture grows in color, texture, and depth.
Once the picture is clear, you are able to change how things are
done in the future.
Asking good questions is also part of the progressive process. The purpose
is to take girls or leaders from what they saw and heard to
discovering what can be done to change behavior or actions in
the future. This is done by asking questions, in a specific
order. The chart below shows the progressive steps of asking
good questions with the steps of the ELC.
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Step
1. The Experience |
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Step
2. Share-
Discover the facts around the activity by sharing the
results, reactions & observations of the group.
Evaluate |
Questions to Ask |
Step
4.
Generalize-
Discover the meaning from the experience by connecting
the experience to real-world examples.
Evaluate |
Questions to Ask |
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What
did you notice?
What
did you see?
What
questions were asked?
What
stories were told?
What
images do you remember?
What
were the main points? |
What
have you learned from x?
What
does this mean to you? For the troop?
What
is the value of doing x?
Why is
this important? |
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Step
3. Process-
Discover how people reacted to the activity by
discussing, looking at the experience, analyze and
reflect.
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How
are you feeling about x?
What
concerns you about x?
What
was the best part of x?
What
was the worst part of x?
What
was familiar? What was new?
What
did it remind you of? |
Step
5. Apply-
Discover what’s next by identifying next steps and
applying what was learned to a similar or different
situation; practice learning.
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What
will we do differently next time?
What
will we keep doing?
What
are the next steps?
Where
do we go from here?
Do you
agree with the steps? |
It Seems So Complicated…
Believe it or not, it is really
quite easy to implement these ideas with a group or troop. Here
are a few things that will help make it easier:
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Don’t make it a formal
process. When in the car on the way home from an activity,
turn the radio off and listen to what the girls are saying
about the experience. At a meeting, have the girls sit in a
circle and just begin the discussion. Be sure it is casual
and fun.
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Don’t worry about the order of
the questions, with practice you will improve on the
progressive order. The most important thing is to ask
questions and get the group talking about the experience.
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Build the questions based on
what is being said. There is no perfect plan for asking
questions because with each question the answers change.
Listen to what is being said and build questions on the
answers. Keep in mind your final outcome…identifying and
applying learning in the future. Even if the questions
aren’t in the right order, you will get there.
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Just try it out. The more you
do it, the more comfortable you will become. Practice does
not make perfect, it makes permanent. The more you do, the
better you become. It’s okay if it’s not perfect.
Girl/Adult Partnership and
Progression are Key
Girl Led - When girls are
actively involved in making troop decisions, encouraged to
develop leadership skills and accept responsibility, they are
more likely to enjoy their Girl Scout activities and to stay
with them longer.
Girl/Adult Partnership- Girls are able to direct their
Girl Scout experience with the support of adults. In
partnership, girls and adults work together to plan and carry
out the Girl Scout Leadership Experience. Girls are involved and
have more opportunities to increase their self-reliance and gain
important life skills. Adults assist girls through the
experiential process and ensure there are opportunities for
reflection.
Progression- Girl Scouts is built on progression. As
girls grow in the Girl Scouts so do their experiences. It is the
responsibility of the adult working with the girls to ensure
that progression takes place allowing girls to fully achieve the
council goals. For more information on how progression works
with each program age level, see the chart on the next page.
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