Not a Normal Day in Class: The Empowering, Dynamic Open Minds Programme at CIS

The first of its kind in Singapore, the CIS Open Minds Programme takes kids outside the classroom to bring learning to life

Close your eyes, mama, and picture a favourite field trip from your school days. Do you remember what you built? What the air smelled like? What the food tasted like?

When you take learning outside the classroom, lessons become much more vivid and impactful. Sure kids can read textbooks or watch videos, but personal experience always makes abstract concepts more concrete.

The innovative Open Minds Programme at Canadian International School (CIS) uses authentic learning experiences in settings outside the classroom to teach kids about the world around them.

Students in Grades 1 to 6 get to participate in the programme, and every student gets four Open Minds experiences over the course of a school year! And these offsite excursions are much more than just a routine school trip where kids get off the bus and look at stuff. Instead, students engage in stimulating hands-on activities like games, experiments, and role playing.

For example, students recently stepped into the shoes of a botanist at Bollywood Veggies, where they collected their own data – smelling, touching and tasting the plants – rather than just rely on someone else’s discoveries.

With Open Minds, it’s learning from experience – rather than being spoonfed information – that encourages learning ownership. Just as students grow and change throughout their school years, Open Minds is also changing and adapting. It’s been running for 13 years, but each year the programme is different.

“One of the things students like about Open Minds is that it is completely different from a normal day in class, and they don’t know what they’re going to experience,” says CIS Lakeside Open Minds Coordinator Carl Brown. “They really enjoy becoming an ‘expert’ for the day – they really feel empowered.”

To learn more about CIS and their Open Minds Programme, contact their admissions team here or call (+65) 6734 8088.

www.cis.edu.sg