PROJECT-BASED LEARNING GROWS IN THE UPPER SCHOOL Two Capstone courses designed specifically for King’s Academy prove to be a breath of fresh air for students and teachers alike. BY SUHAYB AL-JAWHARI '11
Engineering Design students test a car they have created.
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n a world where the internet provides us with an abundant amount of information, the question arises: do we need content-heavy courses anymore? Such courses could be said to release students from their responsibility as active seekers of knowledge, and in light of King’s Academy’s motto “floreat scientia,” (let knowledge flourish), that would surely be a bad thing. King’s Academy is responding to such questions by establishing more 6
BEYOND KING’S
courses that offer students the opportunity to use their curiosity as a driver for knowledge, and to develop the skills to harness the abundance of information to benefit their learning goals. Two King’s courses that currently fit this bill are the new AP Capstone Seminar Global H2O: Focus on Jordan designed by visiting Deerfield Academy faculty member Andy Harcourt, and the Engineering Design course designed by King’s faculty member and alumnus Mohammad Al Quraan ’10.
Global H2O: Focus on Jordan Harcourt, an AP Biology and science veteran who took a year off from Deerfield Academy to teach the new course at King’s Academy, has always been interested in finding new ways to incorporate other disciplines into his work. After incorporating English and history into his biology course, Harcourt came up with the idea of a pilot Capstone course, upon a request by the College Board, under the theme