The Lab

Updated - 13/9/17
Below is a presentation I gave recently, titled 'Apollo 13', reflecting on the subject so far this year. 

What is The Lab?
It is a new elective for Year 9 & 10 students at my school, being introduced next year, that I've been fortunate to be a part of. The idea of moving away from traditional schooling and having a subject that foster creative and critical thinking that's based on real life context is extremely exciting. 

The Lab: Creativity in Practice
We often talk about the box (by the way why is there a box? Why is it not a tube? Why isn’t it a hat?)
We talk about thinking outside the box, thinking creatively, in finding new ways of doing things, in lots of areas of life, technology, sport and business.
The Lab is the course where we look at creativity in all of its forms and puts you at the centre of that. It cuts across and incorporates traditional subjects and looks at what it means to be outside the square. It will teach you and ask you to think about the ways we can approach problems and will ask you to create, solve, build, manufacture and experiment, to be creative in new and different ways.
It will teach and ask students to apply creative problem solving skills to a range of problems, and teach students how to identify the problems around us that need to be solved.

Areas of Study

• The Nature of Creativity and Design Thinking
• Examination of case studies and contemporary, creative problem solutions
• The application of technology to solve problems
• Using Maker principles in creative ways
• Managing a creative project over time
• Working with industry experts from outside the school

Forms of Assessment

• Presentations of creative projects
• Reflection & self-documentation of learning
• Peer-reviews
• Pitching ideas to industry experts

Links to the Formal Curriculum

• Critical thinking
• Communication
• Pretty much any subject that you will do in Year 11 and 12

http://insites.newington.nsw.edu.au/academicguide-year9-10/subject-choices/subjects/