Our Goals & Approach
Discover how New Town Primary's ALP builds critical thinking and adaptability in students. Through Design Thinking, pupils learn to solve real problems and thrive amid change.
Applied Learning Programme (ALP): Cultivating Cognitive Flexibility
Our Goal
To develop cognitive flexibility in our students, specifically critical and adaptive thinking, to enable them to solve complex problems.
The goal of our ALP is to build a strong foundation in our students for lifelong learning, preparing them to thrive in a future where change is constant. By the end of their primary school journey, we envision our students to be able to confidently approach novel situations and contribute meaningfully to their communities. They will develop the confidence to explore different perspectives, the resilience to persevere in the face of setbacks, and the collaborative skills to work effectively with others.
Our Approach
The ALP is structured around processes in Design Thinking. Students learn at different stages to empathise with others, define problems, brainstorm and evaluate ideas together, as well as reflect on their implemented solutions. This experiential and applied process encourages them to develop diverse perspectives and embrace ambiguity, and to master skills in un-learning and re-learning.
Students use specific thinking tools to give one another feedback on writable surfaces.
Students learn about resilience and growth mindset through perspective taking using their non-dominant hand to write