APIS APIS HAWAII NEW PACIFIC CENTURY ACADEMY
www.apis.org
New Pacific Century Academy 2
APIS Hawaii Campus APIS Hawaii is located in Hauula, on the North Shore of Hawaii, approximately one hour from Honolulu. Nestled against the emerald green mountain backdrop and overlooking the crystal waters of the mighty Pacific Ocean, our Hawaii campus provides students the unique opportunity to pursue their academics and connect with the beauty of their natural surroundings at the same time. APIS classrooms and administrative offices form a purposeful learning community that blurs the lines between inside and out. The 97-acre campus includes flexible 21st century classrooms; music and performing arts facilities; purpose-built “Makerspaces”; and state-of-the-art science labs, where students have the opportunity to undertake hands-on learning; athletic fields; and a competition swimming pool.
New Pacific Century (NPC) Academy Program The New Pacific Century (NPC) Academy is a "school within a school" where our students have the opportunity to take advantage of Hawaii’s rich natural and geographical resources and engage in a project based learning (PBL) experience.
We are, in fact, moving toward adopting project/inquiry based learning to be the central pedagogical approach in our way of instruction, in order for us to better achieve our mission and vision for the New Pacific Century. As a starting point, the APIS NPC Academy will help us jump-start in this direction and pace our adoption of project based learning in our school.
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All middle school students have the opportunity to participate in a three-week PBL program offered at our APIS sister campus in Hawaii. Each grade level will engage in separate PBL opportunities, so students can participate in different PBL experiences each year.
Grade Six: Culture and Identity Hawaii is beautiful, rich, and diverse. As a cultural melting pot and meeting point between the East and West, Hawaii offers an ideal setting to study the influence different cultural and ethnic groups living in the same society have had on one another. Sixth-grade students will investigate Hawaiian culture through the question, “What does it mean to be Hawaiian?� This leading question will challenge our students to deeply examine ways that people have maintained their traditions and resisted external challenge (e.g., generational gaps, migration patterns, or globalization). Through a variety of activities that explore Hawaiian local art, language, food, and landscapes, our students will, in the end, discover and learn to reflect and inquire about their own identity; that is, what does it mean to be Korean, American, Chinese, or to belong to any other ethnic or national group?
Grade Seven: Outrigger to Internet Students will explore how innovations in communication and transportation transform a society from isolation to globalization. With its position as a global tourist destination, Hawaii is a perfect laboratory to examine this central question, allowing students to take advantage of great locations such as Pearl Harbor, North Shore, and Waikiki Beach to investigate the transformation of Hawaiian society and culture. Students will engage in unique hands-on experiences, such as rowing traditional outrigger canoes and building their own boat, to launch into the bigger understanding of how adoption of scientific knowledge and use of technologies influences cultures, the environment, economies, and the balance of power. These activities will result in studentcreated video documentaries.
Grade Eight: From Seed to Citizen Students will explore each step of local food production from farm to table. Beginning with a critical analysis of the students’ own ecological footprints and consumption habits, students will then be tasked with researching and developing a proposal for building their own sustainable garden. Utilizing various resources, including visits to local farms, community organizations, and businesses, students will incorporate into their plan concepts of soil chemistry, seed germination, and effective garden structuring and planning. A highlight event includes students constructing art sculptures in their garden using recycled trash from the surrounding beaches. Students will also plan, cook, and serve a nutritious meal utilizing locally produced goods. Through these learning activities, students will examine sustainable lifestyles and explore ways to nurture community identity committed to sustainability.
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New Pacific Century Academy
NPC Academy at APIS Hawaii Campus
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NEW PACIFIC CENTURY ACADEMY Why Project/Problem Based Learning? As a purpose-driven school preparing our children to be the leaders of the New Pacific Century, our educational philosophy (the Hibiscus Model) outlines a number of learning goals for our students: • The ability to analyze and solve complex problems • Critical-thinking and analytical-reasoning skills • The ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing • The ability to apply knowledge and skills to real-world settings • The ability to innovate and be creative • Teamwork skills and the ability to collaborate with others in diverse group settings
Many surveys and research studies (e.g., Conley, 2005) also point out that these skills are precisely what our students need to be successful in college, careers, and life in the 21st century. APIS has purposefully designed our curriculum and instruction to target these goals; we are convinced that project based learning, when done right, can address these goals more effectively than anything else can. APIS is, in fact, in the company of top-notch U.S. schools that have recognized the value of project based learning and taken concrete steps to make it a central part of student learning that takes place in our schools.
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APIS NPC Academy follows the Gold Standard Project Based Learning (PBL) developed by the Buck Institute for Education (BIE), a leader in PBL research and best practices since 1987. The Gold Standard PBL entails the following elements:
• Key Knowledge, Understanding, and Success Skills: Students are to dig deeply into a subject, going beyond rote learning and grappling with the concepts and understandings fundamental to the subject and the discipline. Gold Standard PBL develops not only students’ understanding but also their ability to use and apply that understanding. • Challenging Problem or Question: Problems and questions provide the organizing structure for Gold Standard PBL and they make learning meaningful because they give learning a purpose. Students are not just gaining knowledge in order to remember it; they are gaining knowledge in order to use it. • Sustained Inquiry: The intentional and purposeful pursuit of a solution or answer that is at the heart of all meaningful learning. It guides learning activities toward project goals and establishes a purpose for learning. • Authenticity: When a learning experience is as real as possible, students are engaged and motivated to achieve at their highest level. • Student Voice and Choice: Gold Standard PBL calls for students to exercise judgment and make decisions about how to solve a challenging problem or question. When appropriately guided, student voice and choice are a prerequisite to critical thinking and problem solving. • Reflection: Students reflect throughout the project on the effectiveness of their inquiry and project activities, the quality of their work, the obstacles confronted, and how they can be overcome. • Critique and Revision: According to John Hattie’s research, formative assessment and feedback is the most influential factor in students' learning outcomes. Gold Standard PBL involves built-in checkpoints along the way that allow the students to have opportunities to improve and revise their work. • Public Product: Gold Standard PBL provides the opportunity for students to create a product and share it with an audience beyond the classroom. A public product is more authentic, engaging for the students, and promotes learning to the larger community.
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New Pacific Century Academy
What Does Project Based Learning Involve?
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New Pacific Century Academy
Program Time
Period / Activity
7:00 – 7:55 AM
Wake up and get ready for the day
8:00 – 8:30 AM
Breakfast
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Project Based Learning Morning Session
12:00 – 1:00 PM
Lunch
1:00 – 4:00 PM
Project Based Learning Afternoon Session
4:00 – 6:30 PM
Afternoon Activities and Excursions (see table below)
6:30 – 7:45 PM
Dinner
8:00 – 10:00 PM
Evening Activities (Supervised individual study hours /
10:00 – 10:30 PM
Transition to bed
Evening fun activities - Ping Pong, Board Games, Star Gazing, Movie nights etc.)
10:30 PM
Lights Out: Sunday - Thursday
11:30 PM
Lights Out: Friday & Saturday
Activities and Excursions Activities and Excursions Beach Luau Pontoon Boat to Sand Bar Team Building Activity Hiking Hau’ula Loop Trail Snorkeling Sharks Cove Dole Plantation Friday Fireworks Sail Polynesian Cultural Center Secret Island & Hawaiian fish pond Haleiwa Town Visit Koko Beach Games and Team-building Activity
* Schedules are subject to change.
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2015 Hawaii PBL Camp Report
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n mid-November, 22 middle school students from the APIS Seoul campus traveled to Hawaii for a unique learning adventure. The students were participants in a two-week inaugural Project/Problem Based Learning program held at the newly opened APIS Hawaii campus on Oahu. The students arrived with sandals, swimsuits, and beach towels, ready to enjoy everything that the tropical island has to offer. And there were plenty of opportunities while they were there to visit the island’s white beaches, ride the waves on boogie boards, or snorkel in the shallows, in search of colorful marine life. But, this was not a vacation. This was an opportunity to learn in a different place, in a different culture, in a different way from conventional classroom teaching. Project/Problem Based Learning (PBL) is a learning-by-doing approach. Ideally, it is student-led, with students’ questions and ideas directing a project. A project deals with real-world problems, and students are tasked to come up with a solution or final product. PBL provides an opportunity for students to apply and integrate skills from a variety of disciplines — math, science, social studies, language arts, music, art, and more. “This is a real-life learning project to help kids develop a deeper understanding of the standards that [are] already in the curriculum,” said Pat Hallinan, instructional coordinator for both APIS campuses. During their time in Hawaii, the sixth-grade participants looked at questions about culture. They studied how where you live affects how you live and what it means to be Hawaiian. “We can understand other cultures in a deep, meaningful way by thinking like sociologists,” one of the teachers told the students. For their project, the seventh-grade students considered how innovations in communication and transportation move a culture (specifically, Hawaiian culture) from isolation toward globalization. Once the project’s focus issues were established, teachers at the Hawaii campus provided multiple ways for the students to immerse themselves in their subject and in Hawaiian life and culture. Excursions were provided to places like museums, historic sites, and natural and agricultural areas. Experts in different subjects were brought in to meet with the students. In addition, there was classroom time for the students to reflect on and discuss the places they’d visited and the new information they’d gathered. “For the first-ever Project/Problem Based Learning at APIS Hawaii, students had the opportunity to experience an incredible diversity of Hawaiian learning activities,” said Scott Paulin, deputy head of academics. “We packed so much into these two weeks. The overall comments I heard from students were that they had more fun than they expected and learned more as well. What a great goal for education, fun and learning all wrapped up into one big project that will provide students memories that will last a lifetime.”
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New Pacific Century Academy
“A Chance to Go Deeper”
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APIS New Pacific Century Academy Grade 6 Culture and Identity • Where Impacts Who? • How does where we are impact who we are?
Grade 7 Outrigger to Internet • Isolation to globalization • How does technology and scientific knowledge impact communities?
Grade 8 From Seed to Citizen • Ecological footprint • How can we create a sustainable future?
NPC Academy Payment Details When : November 4 - November 23, 2016 Where : APIS Hawaii campus (Hauula, Oahu, Hawaii) Cost : 2,000,000KRW (Includes: flight, ground transportation, food, activities) If you want your child to participate in this exciting opportunity, please make your non-refundable deposit of 500,000 KRW by Friday, September 23 to reserve a space. The full balance is due by Friday, October 7.
Bank Name : Kookmin Bank / 국민은행 Account # : 034501-04-105785 Account Name : 아시아퍼시픽 국제외국인학교 (Asia Pacific International School)
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