The Discovery Program

Essential Skills for Teachers and Students

Developed by Eric Larsen, M.Ed. with William M. Timpson, Ph.D.

The Futures' Academy teaches and practices skills that are from The Discovery Program.  The Discovery Program was developed and used in an alternative school in Fort Collins, Colorado.  The Futures' Academy staff members have been trained in The Discovery Program during summer training sessions in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The Discovery Program is a concrete, skills-based curriculum that creates positive change in students.  Students can develop many of the positive social skills necessary to be successful in school and in life.  The Discovery Program works especially well for students considered at risk.

The objectives of the program are:

• To Develop a strong sense of community and establish positive support systems for all students.

• To teach, practice, and provide feedback on positive social skills.

• To reinforce the culture of the classroom/school and ensure that all students realize what is expected of them and what they can expect from the staff.

Eric Larson is an alternative high school teacher in Pourde School District in Fort Collins, Colorado, he designed The Discovery Program in 1990 to teach positive social skills to students struggling with academic, attendance, and attitude problems.  The curriculum includes social skills, management strategies, experiential activities, and ideas for developing classroom and school culture.

Curriculum Units

Effective Groups:  This unit emphasizes cooperation, synergy, appropriate risk-taking, clear communication, and positive mental attitudes.

Anger Management:  This unit is a cognitive approach to managing anger and frustration.

Communication Skills:  This unit works extensively with Eric Berne's Transactional Analysis, the three modes of Child, Adult and Parent.

Assertiveness Training:  This unit's goal is to help students see the difference between aggressive, assertive and passive behaviors and responses.

Problem Solving:  This unit focuses on solving problems in a systematic way using five basic steps.

Conflict Resolution:  This unit focuses on conflict and conflict management.

Larsen, E., and Timpson, W.  2001.  The Discovery Program, Essential Skills for Teachers and Students.  Longmont, CO:  Sopris West Educational Services.