Open Minds: Experiential Learning at CIS

Opening Minds and Hearts

The Canadian International School ( Singapore) make inquiry meaningful and exciting through its programme called Open Minds. Open Minds supports student learning in the real world where they seek to make meaning relevant to their own lives. Open Minds involves students participating in inquiries taking multiple days to work off site experiencing our Singapore community to answer question and develop understanding through hands-on, minds-on activities. The Open Minds Programme is about entering with an ‘open mind’ to enrich, explore and expand on the research potential with a particular inquiry.

The Open Minds Programme supports student inquiry in grade 1 – 8, linking their in-class investigations with real world experiences. This approach contributes to motivating students, creating new learning opportunities, developing questioning abilities and expanding their understandings of the world around them.

In this programme, students are immersed in studies along side experts. Teachers foster integral connections with curriculum and develop programmes based on student interests and questions; in doing so the students take ownership for their learning and have time to focus on things that matter to them.

 

Open Minds is important to CIS

Open Minds provides an opportunity to build a meaningful relationship for all learners.

Field trips are not new to schools, what is new in Singapore is the approach taken by CIS though the Open Minds Programme to facilitate meaningful and rich inquiry . By spending more time at a site students become intimate with their new learning environment. The increased time gives them an opportunity to take ownership over the site and over their learning, and as a result, they begin to look more deeply. They have an opportunity to discover the intricate details and relationships that take place at each site and are able to go beyond what can be observed in one visit.

Open Minds provides students and teachers with a unique experiences that allows them to:

• model professional behaviour
• bond with each other in a common experience
• acquire knowledge in different ways
• be stimulated about their learning
• be given a chance to shine
• connect concepts with the real world
• create lasting memories
• provide ESOL students an opportunity to connect language to the concrete experiences.

Site-based learning sparks creative and imaginative thinking and facilitates deepening our understanding of the world. It encourages and supports developing higher order questioning strategies. Open Minds provides an opportunity to broaden our understanding which can lead to greater caring. This in turn can lead us to take action on things that matter to us.

Because of the professional expectations of the work we do during our off-site experience, Canadian International School models for other visitors the kind of behaviour that is necessary to demonstrate respect for the role we play as close observers of the world.