Group Tours & Its Impact on Learning

Educational travel helps students connect learning with life. They reach new levels of achievement using classroom lessons to understand the places they visit and communicate with the people they meet. The self-confidence they gain from these experiences becomes the foundation for a lifetime of discovery. Confucius once said, ‘I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.’ By walking in the footsteps of emperors, seeing the art that inspired a society and speaking a new language to communicate, students are engaging themselves and become life-long, self-directed learners.

ACIS tours maximizes the intrinsic value of travel. Education on an ACIS trip doesn’t happen on a schedule; it’s a constant—woven into the fabric of everything you do.

We believe in providing authentic experiences. After all, students know what's real. To fully engage them, we focus on authentic experiences you can only have in the places you’re traveling.

Making Cultural Connections through student travel

The beginning of critical thinking is making connections. Our Cultural Connections—included on every tour—is where our tours come to life. If you visit the Sistine Chapel to admire Michelangelo's masterpiece, you may partake in a "Master the Fresco" Cultural Connection activity including an historical overview of this unique art form followed by hands-on time for you to create your own piece. Other Cultural Connections include a "Japanese Tea Ceremony" where you'll learn the history behind this highly respected 9th century social tradition while also taking part in the ceremony. All of our Cultural Connections are focused around cultural exchange, food, performance art, scavenger hunts that promote independence, sports and leisure, and visual arts.

Engaging multiple intelligences

All students learn differently: some are lingual learners, some spatial, some experiential. ACIS Tour Managers are trained to work with multiple intelligences and provide a mix of learning experiences that appeal to every type of learner.

Learning objectives

Focused learning is effective learning. That’s why we identify three specific Learning Objectives for each ACIS tour. The Learning Objectives are educational lessons we guarantee will be highlighted during the tour. Examples of Learning Objectives are mastering the difference between Baroque and NeoClassical art and becoming acquainted with the Medici family and its powerful influence on the politics and artistic production of Florence during the Renaissance.

Pre-tour preparation

One of the oldest rules of travel is the more you know before you go, the more you’ll see and experience when you’re there. To help group leaders and participants get the most of their time abroad, each ACIS Group Leader will receive a customized “learning pack” before departure. The pack will include information about your touring destinations’ language, history and culture, as well as activities and “how-to” papers to help keep your educational goals in focus before, during and after your travel.