ep. 35 Empire Day Project - Experiential and Immersive Learning on an enormous scale

In this episode, we let you inside one of the most exciting pedagogical experiments of 2022-23. A year in the making, The Empire Day Project, is part of Director of Drama and Dance, Chris Griffin's, 'My Place in the World: Past, Present and Future' project which has been running with Year 8 since September.

The idea of the project is to look at lessons from the past and present in order to help students shape their conception of a bright future. The Empire Day Project is an experiential and immersive learning experience that that sees 162 Year 8 students, spend a day and a half in the Surbiton Assembly Rooms, which has had every room transformed into an interactive learning environment to help them understand the impact of the British Empire in a three dimensional way.

Some rooms teach students about the spice trade, other rooms teach about the slave trade; in some rooms there are Year 12 students dressed up as historical figures whom students can ask questions about the British Empire; in other rooms, students scan QR codes attached to vintage artifacts in order to teach themselves about the past. The idea is to create an environment for students to independently learn and explore the history of the British Empire, exploring both the successes and the shortcomings of the empire, the idea being to help students understand exactly what has elevated the UK to the status and economic power it has today, and to give students a firm historical platform in order to make decisions about what will happen tomorrow.