Bamboo creativity is one of the unique and creative study experiences which make up our Deep Learning programme. Students learn about sustainability and use their imagination to create a variety of bamboo structures. They are given the opportunity to go through design processes, prototyping and creative problem solving before they get hands-on with tools and materials.

The unit begins as materials and skills. During our first iteration, students made a jungle gym, overseeing the whole process, from concept and design, to sourcing of the bamboo, which involved budgeting and negotiations.

But the real learning was about teamwork, leadership, inclusion, and personal responsibility.

The process of making from our imaginations, be it junk instruments or bamboo towers, is a potent metaphor for life. It usually goes well, but we also break things. We could have planned for contingencies, but we didn’t. We make mistakes. It didn’t turn out quite the way we thought it was going to, so we rethink and we do it over. In the end, we might achieve something, and there’s nothing more satisfying that an original thought made real.