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Alexandra Levitt ‹ EF Academy Blog

<p>Creativity, Activity and Service, commonly referred to as CAS, is a core component of the <a href="https://www.efacademy.org/ib/">International Baccalaureate program</a>. CAS allows students to pursue their own interests, talents and skills outside of the classroom by engaging in experiences and projects through clubs, volunteering, sports, or other co-curricular activities.</p>
<p>Students are required to complete experiences and projects that fall into the three categories of creativity, activity and service. Through creative experiences, students explore original ideas that lead them to innovative products or interpretive performances. Active experiences allow students to engage in physical activity, leading to a more healthy lifestyle. Service experiences provide opportunities for students to engage with their communities in a collaborative way.</p>
<p>Students are also expected to complete a longer term collaborative project that focuses on one or more of the three areas, deepening their understanding of a particular interest. While CAS is an academic requirement, it often becomes a cherished part of students’ lives as they pursue their passions and discover new hobbies.</p>
<h3>How CAS supports classroom learning</h3>
<p>Alex Peterson, a founding figure in the IB world, said “if you believe in something, you must not just think or talk or write, you must act.” This quote informs the importance of experiential learning in education. Something that is missing in traditional education is action.</p>
<p>The CAS program pushes students to take action in a tangible way. Students may learn about the urgency of climate change in geography class, but with CAS they take the learning a step further. With CAS, students could create a recycling project for their school or plan a “black out” where they ask the school to shut off their lights for the day to conserve energy. <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/efacademyblog/importance-experiential-education/">Engaging directly with an issue</a> with real outcomes is essential to enacting change in the world in a creative, active or service-oriented way. This unique educational component allows students to create change in their communities and in themselves in a powerful way that is not always promoted by typical classroom learning.</p>
<p>Through CAS, students are afforded an opportunity to either develop existing talents and skills or step out of their comfort zone and try new activities in a safe space. At the end of the program, many students say that CAS has helped them discover more about themselves. Perhaps they wouldn’t have realized their love for service, their stellar running ability, or that they are resilient and persistent when faced with a challenge. Developing a student’s skills outside of academics is essential to a well-rounded, confident, passionate person. The CAS program provides an excellent foundation for holistic learning.</p>
<h3>Creativity, activity and service at EF Academy New York</h3>
<p>EF Academy’s mission is to develop independent, creative, healthy and socially active global citizens. The CAS program is an excellent conduit for our mission, which is why we extend this core component of the IB program to all students. Our advisory program, Mindfulness, Awareness, Perspectives and Skills (MAPS) gives students the tools to actively engage in co-curricular activities by providing them with support to develop those dreams. EF Academy New York has many <a href="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/efacademyblog/benefits-co-curricular-activities-high-school/">clubs where students can engage in CAS experiences</a>, including Model UN, Outdoor Leadership Club, Art Club, Community Service Club, sports and much more.</p>
<p>Our students’ MAPS advisors guide their students in developing their interests, skills, and talents through these clubs or other opportunities. Students are able to showcase their CAS experiences and projects through MAPS. The conjunction of these two programs allows students to share their passions within the school community and collaborate with other students and clubs. Some examples of past projects include fundraising to build a dormitory for a school in Northern Kenya or creating a televised news segment to share what’s going on in our community.</p>
<p>When it comes to CAS, the sky is the limit. We are happy to support our students in whatever they choose to pursue, so long as they do so with passion and dedication. It is extremely rewarding to see students’ projects come to fruition. Whether it’s through creativity, activity, or service, the pride and joy students take in projects they truly care about further reinforces the importance of providing hands-on learning experiences.  The learning and growth that occurs when an entire school community can share in the success of CAS is truly incredible.</p>

Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) allows students to pursue their interests, talents and skills outside of the classroom through clubs, volunteering, sports, or other activities.

Creativity, activity and service: Shaping students outside of the classroom - EF Academy Blog

Creativity, activity and service: Shaping students outside of the classroom ‹ EF Academy Blog

Creativity, activity and service: Shaping students outside of the classroom

Creativity activity and service shaping students outside the classroom

<h3>What is experiential education?</h3>
<p>Experiential education is an ideal learning model that allows for direct, hands-on engagement with academic materials and course content. This model of learning encourages students to constantly reflect on their experiences as they develop practical skills and better understand themselves in relation to its communities, both local and global. With this model, students are given the opportunity to practically apply the skills they learn in the classroom. Through engagement with the outside world, students are able to connect with their communities and realize their passions in a more tangible way than with traditional schooling. In such a rapidly changing world, hands-on experience with problem-solving, project-building, and collaborative learning are important skills students will need to succeed.</p>
<p>In recent years, many academic curricula have begun to shift away from traditional classroom teaching and embrace the collaborative, engaging style of experiential education. Traditional schooling as we know it today was born during the industrial revolution and mimics an assembly line: students learn subjects in isolation from one another, keeping content confined to the classroom. With this traditional model, students don’t always get the chance to see the practical application of their studies. In order for students to feel that their course content is relevant to their lives, they need to see classroom theories applied in real-world situations. By giving students a well-rounded perspective on how their education is relevant to the world, we set them up for lifelong success an fruitful careers in this technological age.</p>
<h3>Experiential education at EF Academy</h3>
<p>As the average person changes career paths multiple times in their lives, what matters in addition to content acquisition are skills such as project development, direct problem solving, awareness of multiple perspectives, and collaboration – all skills that lend themselves perfectly to experiential learning. EF Academy gives high importance to the development of such educational and practical skills through both the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, and the  Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) for All program. These hands-on programs encourage every student to develop these skills while discovering their interests and passions outside of the classroom.</p>
<p>The International Baccalaureate curriculum encourages experiential learning, and teachers at EF Academy are experts at getting students involved with course content in a real, tangible way. The science department has taken students to coding competitions, Columbia University science labs, and Hudson River clean-ups as a practical application of skills learned in Computer Science, Biology and Chemistry. The Humanities Department visited the United Nations to understand international diplomacy firsthand. They also went to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s home to learn more about an important part of US history, and attended conferences to work on solutions to the problem of mass incarceration in the US.</p>
<p>CAS is one of the core components of the International Baccalaureate Program. This core component gives students the opportunity to undertake extra-curricular experiences and projects to express their interests and passions. Examples include fundraising for several causes, including to build a dorm for a school in Northern Kenya, for an orphanage in Brazil, and for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In a new project, students have begun to translate informational materials from the Children’s Tumor Foundation into their native languages to raise global awareness on neurofibromatosis. Another project students worked on this year was EFTV, a news segment celebrating student achievements at EF Academy and highlighting news from around the school. Other CAS experience examples include digital design, culinary arts, bicycling rock climbing, tutoring, advocacy, and so much more!</p>
<h3>Preparing for the future</h3>
<p>EF Academy is, on the whole, an immersive atmosphere dedicated to experiential learning. By giving students the opportunity to explore the things they love, experiential education sets students up for success in college/university, their careers, and beyond. Not only does hands-on learning promote better awareness and understanding of core educational concepts, it also encourages students to consistently reflect on themselves and their world. Developing such well-rounded perspectives and having an acute understanding of how they fit into their communities, gives students a lifelong sense of curiosity and a commitment to ongoing self-development. By applying their learning in the real world, students can understand all the possible things they can be in their lifetime. Experiential education sets up students for futures that are truly limitless.</p>

Experiential education is an ideal learning model that allows for direct, hands-on engagement with academic materials and course content.

The importance of experiential education - EF Academy Blog

The importance of experiential education ‹ EF Academy Blog

The importance of experiential education

Importance experiential education

 This is an article :)

<a href="www.efacademy.org">This is a link to the website </a>


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Alexandra Levitt

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