Designed to stimulate each child’s interest in the physical world around him, the science curriculum will have a nucleus of exciting, experiential, and enriching ideas for hands-on investigation. Central to the science program will be what the kids will call the "Days Away" program. Because of its very unique location so close to so many wonderful city resources, LCI faculty will be able to get its kids involved in real world activities each Tuesday morning for a whole semester or even for the entire school year. All the kids in grades 4 through 8 will study at a variety of places in the metropolitan area. 4th graders will work on earth science and geology at the Science Center, 5th graders will study the history of instrumental music at Powell Hall, 6th graders will study chemistry and microscopes at Washington University’s Medical Center, 7th graders will study a variety of projects at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and 8th graders will study physics and astrophysics at Boeing Aircraft.

Also integral to the science program (and tied to the kids’ experiences at Shaw’s Garden) will be the Rolling Ridge Greenhouse. Designed for kids of all ages to be able to do a variety of horticultural experiments (or just grow some plants and flowers for the beauty and fun of it), the greenhouse will be overseen by the horticulturists from the Rolling Ridge Nursery itself, and will be staffed by teachers and volunteers from the LCI community (parents, grandparents, friends of the school, etc). It will be the place where the kids can begin to study and appreciate the wonders of botany and develop a variety of projects in other parts of the LCI campus, e.g., the Butterfly Garden, the Rose Garden, the English Woodland Garden.

The Discovery Room at LCI will form the third component of the science curriculum. Every few months the LCI science faculty will set up a hands-on project in The Discovery Room and let kids of all ages come in on their free time, or before or after school, or even sometimes in the evenings. One of the first projects in the DR will be called The Faraday Project. The room will be set up, as far as possible, just like Michael Faraday's laboratory in 1831. The computers will give the kids excerpts from Faraday's notes dealing with the relationship between electricity and magnetism. Other information from other scientists of that era will also be in the computer. The room will be equipped with wire, magnets, batteries, iron cores, and a galvanometer. The student's goal will be the same as Faraday's: convert magnetism into electricity. It will be fascinating to see what answers the kids can generate.

The fourth facet of the overall curriculum is the daily instruction in selected subject matter. The children of LCI will receive innovative, hands-on instruction through masterful teaching in all areas. What they learn here will, as with all areas of LCI curriculum, be integrated with the other major areas of focus. Broken down by year and subject area, curriculum specifics can be found in the Curriculum Addendum to the Business Plan itself.

The foundation of this endeavor will be the school’s faculty. Explorations Academy will be noted for the exceptional quality of its teachers and the high degree of understanding those teachers possess about how children learn, as well as their knowledge of the arts (particularly music), sciences, and technology.

The following points summarize the current plan for LCI’s Explorations Academy:

• The school will be a private, independent, pre-kindergarten through eighth grade entity much like the College School of Webster Groves or the New City School.
• It will be located in the inner-suburban circle so that it can fulfill its diversity commitment to the greater Saint Louis community. For its first three years, it will be located in the former St. Elizabeth School in Crestwood. That’s a short, five-minute drive from the confluence of Hwy. 270 and Hwy. 44. It will then seek to build its own permanent structure to open in August, 2010.
• It will house about 300 children when it is filled; (As previously noted on page one, enrollment will be phased in over three years). Tuition will be $9,500 in the first year. This is considerably less than the average tuition of comparable private, independent schools in the metroplex.
• The goal is to have a student to teacher ratio of about 11:1.
• Preliminary architectural estimates indicate that the 2010 structure will need 75,000 square feet.
• Explorations Academy will be truly metropolitan in nature. We hope to attract kids from as far west as Ballwin and as far east as Belleville. But we’ve also made a huge commitment to economically-deprived kids, and, as a result, we would like to build a sizeable endowment for those students particularly.
• We will phase-in enrollment over three years:
       - In 2007/08 we will enroll students in grades pre-kindergarten through third grade as well as one class of sixth graders;
       - In 2008/09 we will enroll students in grades pre-kindergarten through fourth grade as well as one class each of sixth and seventh graders;
       - In 2009/10 we will have a full complement of pre-kindergarten through eighth graders.