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Read MoreAnother school year has concluded at THINK Global School, and it is safe to say this was truly a year unlike any other. Like many schools worldwide, we opted to switch from in-person learning to remote learning for all four terms. While this was a difficult decision to make, the transition was eased by our students’ work already being planned, tracked, and assessed via our project-based learning platform, Headrush. Digital project management occurs at TGS even when we are in-country, as one of the first rules of thriving as a traveling school is to go paper-free wherever possible.
So from their homes, which span close to thirty countries, our students engaged in projects that explored a wide range of subjects. Learning at THINK Global School takes place through project-based learning, which asks students to solve a driving question, either individually or collaboratively. To solve the question, they engage in an iterative process of investigation, creation, sharing, and reflection during the eight-week term, with some projects spanning longer than that.
There are four types of projects at THINK Global School, and students work on each concurrently throughout the school year.
- Personal Projects are student-designed.
- Teacher-led Modules are created by and overseen by our educators.
- Mastery Projects provide students an opportunity to show their expertise in a topic.
- Service-learning Projects address genuine community needs.
This year, since THINK Global School did not travel, special attention was placed on service-learning projects. Our students were asked to look inwards and ask how they could design projects that bettered their home communities. CM2 Senior Isa Luna Moro created an excellent example of one such project. For her service project, which was also a mastery project, Isa worked with a local restaurant in her home city of Queretaro to reduce food waste by embracing the circular economy. You can learn more about Isa’s project below.
2021 Symposium Selections
Each school year at THINK Global School is capped off with an all-school Symposium. These events are a celebration of our students’ learning and an opportunity for both cohorts to come together, build friendships, and reminisce upon the year. During the Symposium, students present projects handpicked by our staff as being especially noteworthy. You can find this year’s eight Symposium selections below.
Project Name: Facilitating Alternative Waste Solutions in Querétaro, Mexico
Created by: CM2 Student Isa Moro Luna
Project Type: Service/Mastery
Driving Question: How can I raise awareness and facilitate alternative solutions to food waste and loss in Mexico?
Project Overview: For her service project, CM2 Student Isa Luna Moro set out to facilitate a circular economy system to reduce food waste inside Queretaro’s food industry. To do so, she worked with local restaurant Moser to improve their sustainability practices and contribute to the circular economy through techniques such as composting and recycling.
Project Reflection: “My service-learning project was a journey of exploration, creativity, and boldness. During this project, I decided to go out of my comfort zone and take one of my passions to the next level. I was able to improve my leadership, communication, and self-confidence.”
Project Name: Halo: Modernizing the Traditional Filipino Dress
Created by: CM1 Student Gigi Engalla
Project Type: Mastery
Driving Question: How can I modernize traditional Filipino fashion?
Project Overview: For her mastery project, CM1 Student Gigi Engalla set out to create a fashion collection that modernizes the traditional Filipino. To do so, she mastered elements of couture craftsmanship and developed a deep understanding of Filipino fashion by learning about its significance and how its classic features can be integrated into a modern medium.
Project Name: From Vansh to 1shh: Creating a Bilingual Album
Created by: CM1 Student Vansh Chugh
Project Type: Mastery
Driving Question: How can I have a powerful impact on English and Hindi speakers through a bilingual album?
Project Overview: For his mastery project, Vansh creating a bilingual hip-hop album. The lyrics, sung in English and Hindi, reflected the various personal experiences Vansh has had in his life. In the final tracks, the vocals and the instrumentals sit peacefully beside each other with neither fighting for center stage.
What were your initial goals for this project? How did they change over time?
“Initially, I wanted to finish an album within two years, but the more I learned about the process, I realized that being a good singer/instrumentalist was a completely different set of skills than transferring that quality onto a laptop. Because I did everything on my own, musically, I had to produce, arrange, record, play, mix, and master the track all by myself. I also had to learn elements of photography and videography, such as cloning and color grading.
Lastly, for marketing purposes, I also had to teach myself how to run an ad campaign and reach out to people kindly and ask them to listen to your music. I was not familiar with almost all of these processes, and learning all of them – at different levels – made me realize that I had to change my goals. I still ended up making many songs, but I didn’t finish any of them because mid-way through the project, my goal became to release a single before graduation. I definitely think I accomplished said goal.”
Project Name: The Chikaku Project: Creating a Two-Person Anthology Film
Created by: CM2 Students Che Hortop and Alf Mohani
Project Type: Mastery
Driving Question: How can we utilize principles of cinematography, storytelling, and editing to create a two-piece film?
Project Summary: For their joint mastery project, CM2 Students Che and Alf set out to create a holistic anthology consisting of two films. Both films fall under the same concept but possess their own unique properties and location. The films were crafted independently of one another, formed from footage and recordings gathered by the pair of students.
Student Reflection: “By embarking on this project, not only did we hope to create videos that we would be proud of, but we also hope to be able to hone the skills of film making and video editing. Inspiration from films and videos often reaches the two of us easily, so by creating our own videos, we also hope to inspire other people, too.” -Che and Alf
Project Name: Using Music Therapy to Improve Emotional Wellness
Created by: CM1 Student Yeli K.
Project Type: Mastery
Driving Question: How might I build an app that uses music therapy to improve the emotional wellness of teens?
Project Overview: Music therapy is a unique form of rehabilitation that helps people of all ages deal with emotional, physical, and mental ailments by creating and listening to music. For her first TGS mastery project, CM1 Student Yeli K. coded an app that uses music therapy to help teens deal with emotional issues and created a corresponding pitch video to showcase the app.
Student Reflection: “I am doing this project because mental illness has affected so many of my friends and me, and I believe that music therapy is an amazing non-invasive solution for adolescents. This project could bring about true change in our society. Additionally, this project introduced me to advanced coding concepts, which I would eventually like to pursue as a career.” -CM1 Student Yeli K.
Project Name: Reflejos: A Photography Project
Created by: CM2 Student Diego M.
Project Type: Personal
Driving Question: How do shutter speed, aperture, and editing affects the final product in portrait photography?
Project Overview: This project was about learning how to apply aperture, shutter speed, and editing to the pictures, finding creative backgrounds, and improving my photography skills mainly in portraits.
Student Reflection: “I am doing this project because mental illness has affected so many of my friends and me, and I believe that music therapy is an amazing non-invasive solution for adolescents. This project could bring about true change in our society. Additionally, this project introduced me to advanced coding concepts, which I would eventually like to pursue as a career.” -CM1 Student Yeli K.
Project Name: The West Egg
Created by: CM1 Student Hanna W.
Project Type: Mastery
Driving Question: How can I make a farm-to-table egg delivery service become a viable business in a suburban community?
Project Overview: For her mastery project, CM1 student Hanna W. bolstered her entrepreneurial skills by creating a farm-to-table egg delivery service that offers fresh, free-range eggs to those living within her suburban California community.
What did you take away from this project? I learned that perseverance is very important in order to get the end result you want. When I thought I was done and then realized there was something that bugged me in my video I made sure to take the time and fix it. This was very frustrating at times but in the end I was very happy and confident with my proposal.
What are you most proud of? I’m most proud of the extremely useful life skills I learned throughout this process….and that I made $485 of total income.
Project Name: Biocities: Building a Better Farming System
Created by: CM2 Student Seb O.
Project Type: Teacher-led Module
Driving Question: How can I apply my understanding of closed system ecosystems to design a better farming system in my city?
Project Overview: In the Biocities module, Seb looked at how naturally functional systems work and how we can apply that understanding to increase the efficiency of food production in a more sustainable and resilient fashion.
Student Reflection: “The Biocities module was really interesting. I loved the independence given by the educators and the ability to take the product where I wanted to take it. I learned so much about agriculture, useful 3D design skills, and animation techniques and was able to conduct a closed-system experiment via a BioBottle.”
See More Projects on Our Project Portal
Like what you see? You can find more examples of our students’ project-based learning outcomes by visiting our official project portal here.