Linking Learning to Action

This week Nick Hanrahan and Aaron Nolan led an insightful and inspiring session for Cranbrook School’s Diploma Programme teachers on ‘CAS and the IB Curriculum: Linking Learning to Action’.

The session powerfully reinforced the International Baccalaureate mission by reminding us of our responsibility to nurture caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world. It highlighted the importance of lifting the core and integrating it meaningfully across disciplines.

Nick’s presentation helped us see CAS as an opportunity to connect academic learning with purposeful action through creativity, activity and service.

Aaron then supported teachers collaborating in subject groups to identify real world issues linked to their units and explore meaningful CAS connections. For example, the Language and Literature team discussed using a global issue from a core text or explored in a student’s Individual Oral as a springboard for a picture book project. Students could create a picture book that communicates that global issue in an age appropriate way for primary school children, then volunteer to read and donate their books to the school.

Thank you Nick and Aaron for showing us how authentic CAS links can deepen student engagement and connect classroom learning to the world beyond school.

Hannah Thomas
Director of Professional Learning