Parents marvel at end-of-term exhibition: “A clear love of learning”
18th April 25
Two fantastic student exhibitions took place at the end of Spring Term, with Years 7 & 8 proudly showing off the culmination of a term’s work.
Year 7
Parents were invited into school to view Year 7’s final projects based on two enquiry questions: ‘Is space exploration ethical?’ in STEM and ‘Should we fear or embrace AI?’ in Liberal Arts.
Explorations are inter-disciplinary learning projects that enable students to explore topics from a variety of academic angles. They are a core part of our curriculum in Year 6 in Lower School, and Years 7 & 8 in Upper School.
In their STEM Exploration, students learnt how space exploration has contributed to life on Earth in Science, and how to use equations to calculate which planets might be habitable for humans in Maths.
They also built and coded their own mini Mars Rovers in Technology, and considered how we decide what is and isn’t ethical in Ethics lessons.
“One of the things that the school does well is nurturing a real love of learning.”
Meanwhile, learnings in the Liberal Arts Exploration on AI included how different artists have utilised technology in their work during Art, how to write dystopian fiction in English, and how to determine whether AI has been used to create content in Technology.
They also considered how AI can be used to influence thinking in Humanities, and how the invention of the steam engine affected different groups of people during the Industrial Revolution in History.
Students had the freedom to choose how they presented their learnings for the final project, and their creativity shone through.
Examples included:
Is space exploration ethical?
- A stop-motion animation of a rocket and astronaut made out of Lego;
- A 3D-printed model of the earth, with a digital screen displaying the percentage of emissions from rocket launches that various countries contribute;
- A humorous comic strip exploring the question ‘Where will we go if Earth becomes inhabitable?’
Should we embrace or fear AI?
- A short story about two best friends where (spoiler!) one of them is a robot;
- A vote-off that pitted an AI-generated song against an original student composition;
- A sculpture symbolising the tussle between fear and enthusiasm for AI.
The parents in attendance were highly impressed with the exhibition and the students’ efforts. “They’re clearly very enthusiastic about their work, and they speak so confidently about it,” commented one parent.
Another added: “It was wonderful to see how much the students were interested in and cared about each other’s work.
“One of the things that the school does well is nurturing a real love of learning. When my son came home with this project, he was so enthusiastic and couldn’t wait to get started.”
Year 8
Year 8 students also marked the end of this term’s Exploration with an internal exhibition. Their topic of exploration was: How can the natural balance be restored?
Combining multiple subjects, they studied:
- In Geography: the Earth’s spheres;
- In Science: climate (and how it’s different from weather), how human behaviour impacts the atmosphere, and Lovelock’s Gaia principle of systems;
- In Maths: how to use data as part of a persuasive argument;
- In Humanities: how to use the Cornell Note Taking system, and the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park;
- In English: cultural stories around human relationships with wolves.
The final exhibition was a vibrant mix of informative displays, including an immersive museum, interactive computer games, a podcast and a magazine on display in the Old Library. Meanwhile, over in the Science labs, live experiments were conducted to demonstrate aspects of climate change.
Watch our short film, Explorations: A Journey into Deeper Learning, below.
