Move over, 'Survivor'

Teams of honor students at Santiago High in Corona learn to work together and make use of their knowledge to survive on a deserted island. True to the 'Survivor' television genre, they get new tasks to accomplish, a new disaster to overcome and a bonus that just happens to wash up each week.

Proving there's more to testing than just pencilling in bubbles, students at Santiago High School in Corona are putting their heads together to figure out how to survive after crashing on a deserted island.

History teacher Timothy Tuttle, a member of the Corona-Norco Teachers Association, started the Skull Island project when television reruns of "Gilligan's Island" were the closest thing to today's "Survivor" mania. "I've been told to sue the creators of 'Survivor' because they stole my idea."

Actually, he's never seen "Survivor." There are a lot of similarities, he understands, "but they can put their people in a lot more hazardous situations than we can."

For eight weeks, teams of about five honor students are given a new task to complete as well as a disaster to overcome. They also get bonuses in the form of something extra that manages to wash up on shore.

Teams use their math skills to build full-sized shelters and to compute their geographic location. They have to set up a social structure, complete with laws and consequences for breaking them.

As part of their research, the students go on field trips to tide pools, the Santa Ana River and a volcano in the Mojave Desert.

One of the most valuable lessons they take from the project, says Tuttle, is how to get along with others and work as teams.

It's a collegial experience for faculty as well. Tuttle developed the idea while he was student-teaching 28 years ago, but "didn't have the skills and background to use it effectively." Now, he provides the history/social science expertise and relies on the combined expertise of four colleagues - Vicky Dudek (math), Debra Burris (language arts), Caitlin Spivey (biology) and Tami Lincoln (art) - for the rest.

Last year, the project won an NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence.

The students are graded not only on what they accomplish and how they rationalize their decisions, but also on what they write in their journals. "There's a lot of accountability," says Tuttle. But it's not something you could assess with a standardized test.

The point, he says, is to "build memories." He believes students have better recall of facts if they can attach them to a memorable experience.

Teacher Timothy Tuttle; (back row from left) Eric In, Chase Barnes, Josh Childs and (front row) Jessica Milburn, Lauren Garcia and Melissa Boiter; and Hemali Thakkar.

Story and photos by Sheri Miyamoto