A Festival of Curiosity
Secondary students close the year with the Festival of Curiosity!
Secondary students spent their last week of the academic year participating in the Festival of Curiosity, an event aimed at harnessing student curiosity, enabling learning and encouraging collaboration. Through Connected Learning opportunities, students draw on the knowledge that they have developed throughout the year to creatively seek new and innovative solutions. These types of activities directly develop the 21st Century cognitive competencies outlined by the National Research Council: creativity, intellectual openness, work-ethic, collaboration and leadership.
Connected Learning activities facilitate opportunities for students to safely make mistakes and organically learn from them, further developing a growth-mindset and genuinely valuing the power of perseverance. After all, “mistakes are the portals of discovery” (James Joyce). Through this week’s Festival of Curiosity, Secondary students have been involved in a range of Connected Learning activities, pulling together knowledge from different subject disciplines and practicing using this knowledge in various creative contexts.
Students in Year 7 were tasked with designing a playground for the Secondary school. They undertook initial research, including surveying Year 6 students, developed a range of potential designs, received feedback, then prepared a final model of their design. Year 8 students participated in the Islands Project – having encountered a ‘storm at sea’, four groups wash up on four different ‘islands’ with different features. They then establish a community on the island, develop an identity, create governmental and economic systems and embrace the principles of sustainable development as guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Students in Year 9 investigated how Bangkok Patana School can be more sustainable. They built upon the work they have been doing in their Geography, Science and English lessons, in addition to participating in a round of specialist panel sessions. They then spend time collaborating on innovative solutions to address some of the environmental issues faced on campus and will pitch these solutions to a panel of expert judges. Year 10 students created Rube Goldberg Machines, practiced expanding their critical thinking skills, developed their teamwork strategies and learned about the importance of goal setting.
We hope our Secondary students enjoyed their first Festival of Curiosity as a fun and engaging send-off for the upcoming Summer holidays!
