Imagine going to a school that is unique and does things a little bit differently than the norm. The school may be known for its sustainability, or its incredible media program. Here are 7 of the most innovative schools in the world.
- Green School
- Ørestad Gymnasium
- Makoko Floating School
- Big Picture Learning
- Brightworks School
- Summit Sierra
- Think Global School
Keep reading to find out more about each school, how it is designed and why it is on the list of the most innovative and coolest school.
The Green School
The green school definitely comes top on my list of coolest schools in the world. The green school is a private elementary/high school that believes in giving kids a chance to expand their creativity and learn in many different ways. It is committed to educating for sustainable living in a natural environment through our purpose-driven curriculum.
The green school opened its first school in Bali in 2008. In 2006 John and Cynthia Hardy wanted their daughters to go to “real” school after homeschooling but they wanted it to be a school that they would want to attend and a school that they believed in. So they built the green school and since then it has been named the greenest school around the world. And it has been such a success that they are opening three more, one in Taranaki, New Zealand, one near Cape Town in South Africa and one in Tulum, Mexico.
The original school in Bali is for grades K-12 and is made entirely out of bamboo. In their colder locations like New Zealand they can’t make the school without walls like the one in Bali. The NZ green school has pods that are supposed to create an atmosphere that supports alternative thinking. The pods are built out of the most organic materials available. They are surrounded by native plants and also clean grassy space for thinking.
The one in Bali costs around $20,000 (CAD) depending on your grade per year for international students and locals can get scholarships. They have had over 200 student led sustainability projects and have saved 14 tonnes of CO2 per month from the Bio Bus. The Bio Bus is a social enterprise started by green school students. It is a sustainable school transport service that delivers health and waste solution for used cooking oil. How cool is that!
The green school also has camps for families and students interested in going to their school. At the green school students spend a lot of their time outdoors. In the older grades students have something called Jalan Jalan which is where they focus on projects related to physical, artistic and environmental pursuits. They do lots of cool student led projects similar to that.
In the green school they have 3 frames of learning. Thematic classes, which is where they integrate learning as much as possible meaning students are mixing the real world with the academic world. The second frame are the proficiency classes, which is where students are taught regular math and english. The last section is the experimental frame, where students have the opportunity to get out of the classroom even more and it gives students an opportunity to go deep into projects that interest them.
Ørestad Gymnasium
Ørestad Gymnasium is a high school in Copenhagen, Denmark that focuses on giving students a chance to learn about media, communications and culture. They also have specialized programs in natural sciences, social studies and humanities. The school was planned with open learning spaces for the students to be able to adapt and change when you need to. The school is different from all other because it one giant room with no “classrooms”. They say the inside is similar to an urban landscape with lots of stairs, pods, bookshelves, and few ordinary rooms where students can work.
The stairs were designed so that when students are at the top they can look down and find their friends easier. Plus the stairs are also good exercise. The majority of the classrooms are no longer called classrooms at Ørestad Gymnasium instead they are called group areas. The students have 3 round areas for breaks and free time that the students call the fat boy areas. IN these areas there are bean bag chairs for the students to relax in.
It was first opened in 2005 and since the schools aim is to be the obvious school choice for students who want to prepare for the future and higher education within media, communications, and culture. They also aim to prepare students for the future by creating a school that students and teachers stimulate each other to think in creative and innovative ways. They have different types of learning environments like traditional classes, group based learning, individual learning (digital learning), and experimental learning.
They have a program called The Gymnasium Program (STX) where the students have to achieve general education in humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. It is a 3 year program that consists of 2 and a half years of a specialized study program. Within there are the regular academic subjects along with artistic subjects and languages. In this program each student has to do a minimum of 2470 of 60 minutes to complete the program.
Makoko Floating School
The Makoko Floating School is exactly how it sounds. It is a floating school on water in Lagos, Nigeria. Everything else in the neighbourhood is on water so why not make the school too? With the water levels rising across the world they had to make a school that would survive these conditions. The Makoko Floating School is a triangular, three story floating building that 1000 square feet. It is a space for communal learning for the local kids in the neighbourhood.
The schools main aim is to generate sustainable, ecological, alternative building systems and urban water cultures for the teeming population of Africa’s coastal regions. The school was completed in 2013 and since has been named one of the most innovative schools in the world. During the building process, they used local materials to produce architecture that reflects the communities culture. It is an all ages school and is an example for future building projects in Africa’s coastal regions.
The classes are on the second floor of the building which are partially enclosed. The classrooms are surrounded by green space for and the roof is where they have their open air classroom. The Architects added strategies to make the school sustainable by having PV cells on the roof to catch rainwater. The school’s base is made to float from a base of typical plastic barrels. This system is useful because it floats and also because the barrels on the outer edges can be used to store excess rainwater.
The school collapsed in 2016 due to heavy rain and luckily there were no casualties because the students and teachers had moved locations anyways because of safety concerns. Afterwards they decided to rebuild with improvements to avoid collapsing again. In the same year another Makoko Floating School was replicated in Venice and it was awarded the Silver Lion prize, recognized as “a powerful demonstration, be it in Lagos or in Venice, that architecture, at once iconic and pragmatic, can amplify the importance of education”. A third iteration of the school was built in Bruges, Belgium in 2018 and claimed to have a 25 year life span.
Big Picture Learning
Big Picture Learning is a school for students from grade K to 12 that focuses on letting students lead their own lives. The school was established in 1995 with one main mission of putting students directly in the middle of their own learning. They want students to spend lots of time in their community and students are not just evaluated on standardized tests. The original school opened in the state of Rhode Island which was named the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (the Met).
Ninety-eight percent of the met’s first graduation class in 2000 were admitted to postsecondary institutions, receiving over $500,000 in scholarships to help fund their college dreams. Bill and Melinda Gates announced that the met was their favourite high school in America and they provided Big Picture Learning with grants to build more schools across the U.S. and the world. Now there are over 65 Big Picture Learning schools around the world.
The students at the schools are each part of a small learning community of 15 students called an advisory. Each advisory has an advisor which is a teacher that works closely with the group and help students make their own personalized learning. Families are also actively involved in their students education at Big Picture Learning. They help shape the student’s learning plan and are part of the school community. Each student also has a mentor where they work closely with, learning in a real world setting.
Even though the school has so many locations in each location the fundamental elements remain the same. There are 10 distinguishers that keep the 65 plus schools different from the others. The first 5 are that they personalize students’ learning, each student has an advisory, they learn through interests and internships, and family engagement is huge. The second 5 are that Big Picture Learning schools focus on school culture, authentic assessments not just tests, school organization, leadership, post secondary planning and professional development.
Brightworks School
Brightworks School is a very different type of school. At Brightworks they teach through real life problems. It is kind of known as the school where kids get to do dangerous things and play with fire! Well I’m not exactly sure if kids play with fire but they do get to use tools and do things an ordinary school would not allow kids to do. Brightworks school is completely project based learning.
Learning at Brightworks is called The Arc which is a fundamental rhythm of their education. There are three major arcs each year which are exploration, expression and exposition. When students start a project or begin a phase in the Arc, they begin with exploring their subject, then students express what they learned from exploration the phase through a project or experiment. The final phase of the arc is when students explain and present what they learned to their community.
Students explore and do projects by air, land and sea. They believe that if they take the best childhood education practices and hands-on, and project based learning they will meet students needs in a flexible mixed age environment. The school is located in San Fransisco, California.
The tuition costs for the school year is $33,400 (USD) but students can get financial aid. Brightworks is partners with Curious Thinking and Tinkering school because it was founded by those companies as an independent school. In the elementary school years students nourish their creativity and playfulness. Brightworks aims to expand their students’ ideas of what they are capable of. In middle school students are taught to be brave and show their true selves to the world. And in high school students are taught to be self directed citizens and to see tough problems as puzzles.
Summit Sierra
Summit Sierra is a tuition free, charter high school for grades 9-12. It is unique because at this high school students are encouraged to talk to others and share their feelings. It is otherwise known a the school that gets personal. At Summit Sierra they believe that every student is capable of being college and career ready, and students should all have access to schools that allow and prepare them for the future.
Their aim at Summit Sierra is to prepare a diverse group of students to be ready and successful in college and to be kind and thoughtful members of their community. Summit Sierra started in Seattle but now, being part of a group of high performing schools, they have expanded to 11 schools across Washington and California. The first school opened in 2016.
There are 4 main keys in the learning approach at Summit Sierra. The first is that learning is personalized, so students can integrate their interests into what they learn about in school. The second approach is empowering, so students are self directed learners and are encouraged to learn different skills. The third approach is rigorous, meaning students show competency in college prep courses which are the core 5 courses and a visual arts course. The last learning approach is that their community is small so every one can get to know and support each other.
At Summit Sierra there are numerous courses students can take. A big part of their education is learning about and being college and career ready. But students also learn the basic core courses, there is a list on their website of the courses each grade needs to take to graduate. Of course this school also has a wide selection of electives.
Think Global School
Think Global School is basically a non-profit traveling high school, otherwise known as the school without borders. The school started in 2010 after the founder decided to create a school which can incorporate travel, cultural immersion and empathy in its curriculum. Think Global had its first semester in 2010, traveling to Sweden with 15 students from 11 different countries! Now Think Global has around 45 teens aged 15-18 with them.
These students get to learn through travel so they are a community of worldschoolers. The student to teacher ratio is 4:1 and to graduate through the school you must complete 3 years with them. In total over the three years you will visit 12 countries from 6 different continents! The admission cost which covers accommodation, education, food and more is $124,874 (CAD) per year and costs can range.
At Think Global high school the learning never really stops but they do have a schedule. Students spend 3 months in each country and first they have 1 week of intense studying and 8 weeks total of academics, then they get 5 weeks off to explore the new country they are in. That goes on all year round and students get to travel to 4 countries a year. At Think Global students are encouraged to explore their own passion and think creatively while being in small classes and exploring the world.
Each day at Think Global is never the same. Because they are on the go traveling students have a wide variety of schedules and learn to adapt and be flexible. Students get to try new things, new food and stay at different places. Accommodation ranges too throughout the years. One day you might be in a bungalow in the jungle and another you might find yourself in an apartment in the city. Students are close with their teachers and staff, after spending 3 years together they are pretty much family! There are at least 2 staff members at all times and the staff to student ratio is 1:2.
If you are interested in Think Global, check out my other post about the best traveling high schools abroad.
That was a list of what I think are the worlds most innovative and cool schools. It is a wide variety from a traveling high school to a floating school, but I think all those schools would be very cool to attend or visit.