Applied Transdisciplinary Learning
Applied Transdisciplinary Learning (ATL) is a key feature of the No Limits Curriculum at Park Academy West London. ATL involves learning between, across and beyond different disciplines that are relevant to the real world and applied to real practical situations. The goal is to access, analyse and synthesise information and knowledge over several disciplines in order to understand the operation and issues facing the world today and in the future. Very rarely in the real world do people operate in only one discipline, the aim of the curriculum is to replicate real world experience to ensure learning is authentic.
Students in Years 7 and 8 complete six assignments over the course of the academic year, each with a focus on different curriculum areas:
Year 7:
Tomorrow’s World – Dementia/Parkinsons
Love, Life and Loss – Nuclear Attack
Demos Kratos – My Democracy
Computer Science
Global Culture – Help
Healthy Living – Diversity in Sport
Year 8:
European Café Culture
Tainted Love – Film Trailer
Space – Colonising Mars
Computer Science (Gaming)
Health and Disease – Spread the Disease
The Civil Rights Movement – Protests
Each assignment has been developed and adapted to reflect our students and the local community. The driving question, which provides the purpose of learning, focuses on real life issues and problems which we endeavour to solve, by simulating different working environments and professions. The assignments require students to draw on knowledge from single discipline learning and be creative in how they apply the knowledge to real world scenarios. Developing cultural capital is a central part of the ATL curriculum and students are provided with opportunities to enrich their experiences throughout the assignments. Following each assignment students participate in an exhibition in which they present their work, enabling them to further develop many of the Future Skills.
Curriculum Map