Exchange City USA

History of Exchange City

Exchange City was created in 1980 in response to employers' and community leaders' concerns that students lacked the basic understanding of government, economics and skills needed for future roles in the workplace.

Exchange City is a hands-on learning program that combines an eight-week classroom curriculum with a state-of-the art interactive government and free enterprise laboratory. The Exchange City experience helps students learn and apply rigorous academic standards in math, civics, social studies. language arts and technology in real-life roles as citizens of their very own mini-town.

In 1994, the first Exchange City license was granted to Junior Achivement of Central Indiana, Inc. Since that date, more than 26 licensees have been granted in 16 states. There currently are 21 Exchange Cities operating nationally and serving approximately 150,000 young people.

Experiencia, Inc. owns and distributes the Exchange City program and its sister program, EarthWorks®. EarthWorks is a hands-on science program based on the same Immersive Learning™ model as Exchange City.

How Exchange City is Unique

Exchange City is a special city built for kids and run by kids. It also is a nationally recognized, innovative economics, government and civics program supporting a new vision of teaching and learning about American enterprise, entrepreneurism and government. Exchange City is both a hands-on learning lab site and a curriculum that is used in the classroom and in the home.

Exchange City is based on Experiencia's Immersive Learning model which uses a comprehensive curriculum with concepts, experiences and expectations that lead teachers, students and parents to develop new capacities in essential areas of learning.

This program is designed around three components:

interactive teacher and volunteer/parent training
8-week hands-on classroom curriculum
full day at the Exchange City simulation site

Exchange City is designed to reflect three proven themes of contemporary education: experiential learning, constructivism, and collaborative learning. The program models effective instructional practices and education reform for teachers, parents and students. This innovative learning model adds a layer of expectation and application not seen in other programs. It is indeed a unique and comprehensive design.
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