Year 8s Innovate in Explore8
It’s been a fun and exciting time for the Year 8s over the past two weeks. Their involvement in Explore8 means they have been off the traditional timetable for ten days and working on their own design-thinking, extended project.
The starting point for this project was an interview with someone different from themselves who could show them what it was like to walk in their shoes. Since then, the average day of a Year 8 student has been filled with amazing, innovative guest speakers, skills sessions, one-on-one sessions with a teacher mentor, fun ‘mind gym’ activities, and lots of individual project work.
What is Explore8?
Explore8 is the Year 8 unit of the Enhanced Learning Program at Santa Maria College. The aim of this deep-learning task is to extend the learning of all students in Year 8. It is also designed to encourage the exploration of new ideas in a structured and supported process of design thinking.
From the students, Explore8 requires sustained critical thought and planning, research, partnership with teachers and parents, decision making, creation of a task product, reflection and the ability to present an innovative solution to a known problem. The College considers these skills to be a solid foundation for further study and life generally.
The girls will present their projects to their parents in a gallery style exhibition on Wednesday evening. They will show their parents around the gallery and answer questions about their own innovation projects.
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Author: Santa Maria College
Santa Maria College is a vibrant girls school with a growing local presence and reputation. Our Mission is to educate young Mercy women who act with courage and compassion to enrich our world. Santa Maria College is located in Attadale in Western Australia, 16 km from the Perth CBD. We offer a Catholic education for girls in Years 5 – 12 and have 1300 students, including 152 boarders.
