Mount Sinai College named Apple Distinguished School 2018-2020
Sydney’s Mount Sinai College has been recognised as an Apple Distinguished School for 2018–2020.
Photo: Ofer Levy
The selection of Mount Sinai College as an Apple Distinguished School highlights our success as an innovative and compelling learning environment, that engages students and provides tangible evidence of academic accomplishment.
Mount Sinai College has embraced technology as both a teaching tool as well as developing skills where students use technology to solve problems. This is not just about learning coding and robotics but learning a new way of thinking.
The College has adopted Apple’s Challenge Based Learning approach, which allows students to leverage technology to answer their own questions about a scientific phenomenon or social action they want to change. It helps them learn in a way that is meaningful to them. For example, during a Science class students are able to get much more engaged with their journals by heading off to the park, taking pictures, annotating and re-presenting these back using a host of multimedia resources.
‘When you watch a child’s eyes light up because they’ve built something using technology, that’s justirreplaceable – it’s more impactful than just regurgitating facts,’ says Phil Roberts, Principal at MSC.
Photo: Ofer Levy
Being an Apple Distinguished School also means MSC uses technology to modernise the way we educate. One- to- one iPads are provided to K-6 students at no extra cost. Like a pencil or notebook, the iPad is an essential learning tool in the Mount Sinai College classroom. Our children are often required to present back their schoolwork using video from their iPads. For example, students record themselves reading their classwork, using and describing what they’ve made, how it works and their own analysis of the outcomes. Or during P.E class while students are participating in high jump, they’re recording the motion of jumping and replaying it for themselves on their individual iPad to analyse their form and style and identify where improvements need to be made.Parents can also have much richer engagement in their child’s school experiences by viewing, discussing and interacting with their child’s work using a free app.
Technology allows MSC to redefine what learning looks like and embed the core skills of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) into our classrooms on a daily basis. Embracing STEM at a Primary school age transforms the learning experience into a real-world context at a much earlier stage of life, broadening our students’ perspectives and opportunities as they enter high school.
