Project-based Learning

Cramlington Learning Village serves more than 2300 students age
11-18, 11% of whom receive free school meals. At Cramlington, students
become independent and resourceful thinkers via project-based learning–by taking on long-term
projects with tangible outcomes. Cramlington has achieved this through
radically rethinking its use of learning space and learning time, making
both much more flexible.

Transformed Learning Space

Cramlington’s
recently-built Junior Learning Village (JLV) for its 11-12 year olds is
built around a sheltered “village street” (pictured), which hosts art
exhibitions and village fairs, and can be used for day-to-day learning.
The JLV also features a Knowledge Café, which is both learning resource
center and school canteen.The school took a similar approach to its Open
Learning Science Plaza and adjacent biodome, divided into different
zones designed for discussion, research, and experimentations. This
allows students the freedom to carry out their own science projects, and
the means to carry them out with rigour and imagination.

Transformed
Learning Time

The scope for enquiry in science is further
widened because science is taught in half-day blocks, allowing students
to carry out extended experiments. Webcams in the labs also allow
students to keep tabs on their work over the holidays. In the
humanities, classes are divided such that two teachers are given
responsibility for 60 students. This adds further flexibility to the
timetable, and allows teachers to split the groups in any way that suits
their needs and to run cross-disciplinary sessions.

Also, for a
number of weeks in the year, the regular timetable is suspended across
all subjects; for example, during two immersion weeks in the summer,
students can pursue extended enquiry projects both in and out of school,
working with adults other than teachers, and working in much greater
depth than is provided by even a half-day block.

Outcomes for
Young People: 21st-Century Skills

According to success indicators (national tests and
other, more fine-grained measures), Cramlington Learning Village is a
“leading edge” school, successful in conveying 21st-century skills.Read
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