Learning at AISCT: What is Innovation Term?

Each year, in the last term of the year, the American International School of Cape Town (AISCT) hosts Innovation Term. This 12-day program is project-based learning at its best. The projects and programs range from work experience at local companies to experiential trips in Southern Africa. Students can select one of the projects offered by the AISCT staff, or they can undertake a personalized learning project that interests them.

Project-based Learning

When students are able to engage in real-world projects in an area that they are passionate about and gain meaning from, it can be some of the most powerful learning. A project-based method facilitates this type of learning as it is explorative, student-led, and focused on key goals and skills.

Project-based learning is hands-on with students engaging in and solving real problems; it is interdisciplinary with students having to engage with the full scope and complexity of the issue. Although it is student-led, it is facilitated by the instructors who help to frame the project and guide students through the process. Project-based learning began in fields where experiential learning and training were essential in skills development and has grown to be incorporated in K-12 education around the world. 

Project-based learning is something we focus on throughout our teaching and learning at AISCT, but Innovation Term allows students to choose from a wide range of options or create their own projects with the support of their teachers.

The real benefits come when students work on a complex problem or idea. They gain deeper insight, use problem-solving skills, tap into creative-thinking, and collaborate with their peers.

Innovation Projects

Every student from ECD through Grade 11 takes part in Innovation Term. It takes place after Term 4 when High Schoolers have finished their exams, allowing them to focus fully on their project. There are 30 different projects on offer each year. They include art and environmental projects, tours in Cape Town or throughout South Africa, movie-making, life skills, career insights, and much more.

Interested in learning more about innovation at AISCT? Click here.