At the Center for Excellence at New Technology High School, our mission is to empower educators through innovative teaching practices that shape responsible, resilient, and successful students in the ever-evolving 21st-century landscape. Over the years, we’ve been privileged to collaborate with schools, districts, and organizations worldwide to enhance authentic, student-centered learning. In the spring of 2024, we embarked on a new partnership with Redea to elevate Project-Based Learning (PBL) and improve learner outcomes across their network of schools in Indonesia.
Launching our Collaboration
PBL is already central to many of the schools in Redea’s network (formerly known as HighScope Indonesia). During the first two days, we worked with their content and development teams to review and analyze the current projects from pre-K through grade 12. The team presented several projects that connected their curriculum standards to local contexts, making the learning both relevant and authentic.
We saw firsthand how these projects profoundly impact students, who spoke passionately about their work, their iterations, and the real-world connections. A couple of standout moments included watching students co-construct success criteria, discussing how these criteria help them achieve their goals, and observing 4th and 5th graders design functioning model hearts that replicated the four-chamber system!
Rubrics to Support Student Learning
The Redea curriculum team has been working with teachers to refine learning clarity through well-structured rubrics, focusing on personalized learning while maintaining core subject outcomes. Each project includes a subject-specific rubric that defines the core learning objectives. While students have flexibility in choosing their approach and the problems they want to solve, teachers guide them through a question development process, such as the Question Formulation Technique (QFT), to foster critical thinking and higher-order questioning.
An integral feature of these rubrics is the emphasis on how students’ learning can contribute to the community, linking directly to the authenticity of PBL. Students are encouraged to consider multiple perspectives and apply their knowledge in diverse contexts, which aligns with our broader focus on teaching for transfer—skills that can be used in different situations. This focus on real-world application is something we’re excited to incorporate into PBL practices both in the U.S. and Indonesia.
Classroom Observations
One of the highlights of our visit was observing classrooms in action. The passion for learning was evident as teachers engaged students in a variety of activities, from co-constructing success criteria to presenting phenomena for students to observe and ask questions about.
The previous week, we facilitated a session on teaching critical thinking in the classroom. It was inspiring to see teachers implement the strategies on Monday that they had learned on Friday! For example, in an AP English class, students were tasked with ranking paraphrases from best to worst, providing evidence to support their reasoning. In a 4th-grade science class, students evaluated the validity of resources for their projects, having rich discussions about what makes a source reliable.
A particularly memorable moment was in a kindergarten/1st-grade classroom. The day before, the class had explored patterns through a song and discussion, mapping patterns on the board before creating their own through art and manipulatives. The next day, I had the honor of leading the project launch, where the driving question was, “How do we use the patterns of the Earth to predict the weather?” The students’ excitement and curiosity were palpable as we discussed how weather impacts our daily lives, and I’m eager to hear their suggestions on what I should wear for my next trip to Indonesia based on the Earth’s patterns!
Wrapping Up: Reflections and Action Plans
After eight days of training, classroom observations, and reflective discussions, we reached a pivotal moment. During our observations, we met with principals to connect what we had seen in the classrooms, discussing the positives as well as identifying areas for growth. Each principal presented their key takeaways from the week, highlighting how teachers were successfully using phenomena to spark learning, utilizing scaffolds to support student thinking, and fostering high levels of student engagement.
Following these reflections, the principals proposed action plans for the upcoming weeks. They committed to supporting their teachers by introducing strategies that encourage rich student discussions and ensure that students are taking on the cognitive heavy lifting in the classroom. Additionally, they plan to offer ongoing professional development and opportunities for peer observations to deepen teacher learning. Each principal will play an active role in guiding and supporting teachers as they implement these new strategies.
Celebrating Collaboration and Partnership with Redea
A highlight of the week was the honor of announcing our Executive Partnership with Redea on stage! This event was truly special, featuring lunch with an Indonesian Diplomat and sharing the stage with him, as well as with Antarina SF Amir, Founder and President Director of Redea, and a well-known national journalist and TV host. Our big announcement quickly made headlines, with multiple media outlets covering the news later that evening.
As one article quoted Antarina: “This partnership allows Redea Institute to provide an educational experience that is globally connected, yet grounded in local needs. This step aims to build a strong and sustainable education ecosystem in Indonesia, as well as provide real contributions to the global education world.”
This Executive Partnership represents a remarkable opportunity for us at the Center for Excellence at New Tech High to collaborate with Redea in taking authentic learning and sustainability to new heights. Over the coming years, we will work closely with Redea to offer training, provide feedback on teaching practices, develop leadership capacity, and continue fostering learner-centered classrooms. All of this will be framed by Redea’s Learner Outcomes, which align with our focus on developing 21st-century skills. We are thrilled to support the advancement of Project-Based Learning and student-centered education across Indonesia!
A Heartfelt Thank You!
A huge thank you goes out to the incredible leadership team at Redea. Their commitment to putting learners first and focusing on skill development to nurture the whole child was evident throughout our time there. It was inspiring to see how they approach education with such care and dedication, creating classrooms that emphasize real-world, authentic learning. The hard work and enthusiasm of the teachers were palpable, as they embraced new strategies to engage and further their students’ learning.
The students in Redea School Network are truly fortunate to have a passionate and committed staff that prioritizes personalized learning while fostering diverse perspectives and community contribution. The future is undoubtedly bright for Redea!
