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
In 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
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
of global water issues. Over two years, Harcourt collaborated with faculty members all around the United States, developing a vibrant course for Deerfield that melded interdisciplinary and global learning, research, argumentation, collaboration and presentation.
In 2021, Harcourt received a call from former colleague and then Head of School at King’s Academy Peter Nilsson, who asked whether he would be interested in adapting the course on water issues for Jordan, and to teaching it at King’s. With Jordan being one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, a course teaching youth about water security issues could not be more important, or timely.
In Harcourt’s class, students have been robustly learning and engaging with the world in the course of their studies. They have debated whether the Dead Sea should be revived, researched the water situations of countries around the world, learned about the geo-politics of the Jordan River, examined water microbes under a microscope, created podcasts on water issues, interviewed college professors for their research, met with government officials to present their findings, and shared their knowledge with students in their home countries as far away as China.
According to Harcourt, the course develops students’ skills, and the
information tags along to drive that development. “Many times [the students] are working as a team, and the synergy allows them to produce materials that are just far beyond what they could do on their own,” says Harcourt.
One student of Harcourt’s has set her heart on studying environmental science at university after taking his course. It also inspired her to dig deep into a topic not studied in class. “We didn’t learn much about pastoralism [animal husbandry where animals are released onto outdoor lands for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds] and its negative effect on water,
but it is something that I am currently researching on my own,” says Bana Haroush ’24. “With this course, you choose the path that you want to go on. You use your curiosity and creativity and develop your research skills. It’s an all-in-one course.”
The engaging nature of the course has helped it gain a loyal following among its students, who have embraced burrowing deep into research, and developing stronger writing, teamwork and presentation skills.
According to Brandon Winans ’23, Global H2O made him start to seriously consider the kind of future he wants. “With this course, you don’t learn about the past,” said Winans, “you learn how to change the future.”
Engineering Design
Mohammad Al Quraan ’10, an Irbid-born alumnus of King’s Academy, is also one of the earliest graduates of the school’s Summer Enrichment Program (SEP). For over a decade, he has been returning to give back to the program that launched his journey at King’s, as a volunteer teacher and organizer for SEP. After working in geotechnical engineering consulting for a couple of years, Al Quraan found himself being called by another passion: teaching. His work in both fields motivated him to think of a way to combine engineering and education into one career.
Al Quraan set his sights on his alma mater, proposing an engineering class for Upper School students. “When I met with [former Head of School] John Austin in Boston, it turned out King’s was looking for something like that,” says Al Quraan, who was then asked to join King’s as a full-time faculty member and to develop his proposal for an engineering class into a STEMrelated Capstone course.
Al Quraan started his teaching journey at King’s as a mathematics teacher in the Middle School, which became both a playground and testing ground for the development of the
distance or by the accuracy of their claim of how far it will go. Through designing and building their cars in groups, students learn the technical basics of engineering design through testing and iterations, design by fabrication, and design by building.
To support student learning, the school acquired machines to form a makers space, including a laser cutter, a 3D printer and a tool shed. Through the creation of their cars, students learn how to work in a team, to make multiple iterations until they get it right, and to work on programs such as Inkscape and Adobe Elements. Even if
Quraan, this is one of the strengths of the class. “They're learning so many skills, but it's driven by what they want to learn about and what they want to work with. That is when the students give you more, they give you all of their energy and their dedication because they want to work.” This year, after consulting the school’s operations department on its needs, students decided to work on creating a sustainable energy heating system.
Now in its fourth year, Engineering Design is described as one of their favorite courses by its students. Asked if planning his own projects was frustrating, Adam Zaatar ’23 replies: “This class is a breath of fresh air. High-level classes usually have core curriculums, but for this course we were able to work on our projects the way we wanted.”
Hamza Mustafa ’23 is now applying the time and project management skills he has learned through this course in other areas. "It taught me how to take on a big project and split it into digestible tasks,” he says.
Meanwhile, Taehoon Yu ’23 says he has found freedom in this course. “In class, I can express myself. I can talk about my ideas and opinions and be creative about the topic.”
engineering course. “The Middle School allows you to do a bit more project-based learning,” says Al Quraan. “There isn't as much emphasis on a standard way of assessment, so, I got to explore a lot.”
Flexibility in the classroom allowed for reiterative growth for Al Quraan as a teacher but also for the engineering class. “This flexibility taught me how to adapt to students’ abilities and needs at the same time, which is very helpful for a course like the engineering one,” he says.
As a project-based learning course, Engineering Design is split into two parts. Firstly, the students are tasked with designing and creating a car that can go a certain distance. They can build it out of any raw material, and they are graded based on the maximum the car fails, the majority of their grade
the car fails, the majority of their grade is based on their reporting of the project and the presentation that follows. They are graded on their demonstration of learning and growth, not on the outcome of their project.
In the second semester, students are tasked with tackling engineering challenges in Jordan. This allows for any topic or problem to be put on the table and to be actively addressed by students, who have access to consultants for their design, before presenting their projects at the end of the school year. Students have a small budget to purchase any necessary parts for their project, which helps them work on their budgeting and project management skills, an important part of any engineers’ professional toolkit.
The students choose the topic for the second semester. According to Al
While the implementation of these two courses at King’s has been a great success, the question of whether there is still a need for content-heavy courses still looms. How can educators make more space for project-based learning and how can they inspire students as well as teachers to be active members in learning that creates change around them?
According to Nilsson, “a school curriculum should be rigorous and relevant. It should drive students to excel, be connected to their lived experiences, and focused on the unique setting of what can only be done in a particular setting.” That is why King’s Academy will continue to seek out and support courses like Engineering Design and Global H2O: Focus on Jordan, to ensure that students are provided with engaging learning experiences that help them harness “the tools and challenges of today to develop into the leaders of tomorrow.”