What Active Learning looks like in schools (Secondary/Whole School)
Active Learning, Every Day
Active learning can take many forms, from project work and collaborative inquiry to practical, hands-on experiences. This session explores what active learning can look like in the everyday lesson, through evidence-informed instructional practices that consistently engage every student in deep, effortful thinking.
Catherine Beck (St. Hilda’s College)
STEAM Fair Project
The school will share its experience in developing the STEAM Fair as a cross-curricular project involving all three school levels: Kindergarten, Primary, and Secondary.
Sabrina Chirino (Colegio Estrada)
From Passengers to Pilots: How Choice and Leadership Fuel Active Learning
Active learning requires students to take ownership of their thinking and actions. This active mindset starts with choice. Through our credit-based “Options” system, students build their own academic schedules, taking immediate charge of their educational journey. Courses like Architects of Fiction, Think.Create.Pitch, and Radio shift the focus to student-led creation, teamwork, and practical application.
This active engagement naturally flows into leadership roles across the school, connecting classroom autonomy with the responsibilities of our Captains, Prefects, and School Captain. Seamlessly aligned with our Cambridge IGCSE and AS frameworks, this model uses knowledge to cultivate real-world skills. To illustrate this ecosystem, a current student leader will share her personal journey of how having a voice, leading peers, and navigating choice creates a deeply meaningful education.
Valeria Macedo and School Captain Josefina Crucianelli (Bede’s Grammar School)
