From the Deputy Head of Senior School – Academic – Deep Learning

The changing landscape in education over the past few years has seen a shift from a theory-based approach to a more holistic one, where essential skills are transferred between multiple subjects and into real-life situations. Researchers classify these skills as the global competencies, that is, the skills students take into any unfamiliar situation to solve problems creatively and critically. Deep learning is an approach to teaching we use that encourages students to transfer their knowledge from one area into another.

At MLC School, our students are continually exposed to learning experiences where the classroom teaching is integrated into real-world experiences. The Immersion Program is one part of this experience. In addition to this program, all students have been exposed to a variety of opportunities across a range of curriculum areas where they have been encouraged to think critically and creatively, applying ideas they have learned in class to the real-world.

The workshops and experiences where our students have been challenged to take their classroom learning into an unfamiliar context have ranged from trips to Japan and the Great Barrier Reef to listening and sharing with First Nations artists as they worked from our very own studios in Kent House. Our Science students are going to be challenged to apply their learning at Sydney Science Park, near Badgerys Creek Airport, where they will form teams designing the development of a Smart City. The Senior Centre and its design was examined by Year 8 Mathematics students whilst our Entertainment students went behind the scenes at the Riverside Theatre managing and interpreting lighting plans.

This is a sample of the experiences and opportunities we have already provided our students to think differently, work collaboratively and direct their own learning when placed in an unfamiliar environment.

– Penny Pachos
Deputy Head of Senior School – Academic

Main image: Immersion to Far North Queensland.