Yellowknife (Mar 03/06) - Students who excel in the classroom at Ecole St. Joseph have been given the freedom to create their own projects outside of class.

The enrichment program takes students out of class for two afternoons a week. They are asked to design their own projects based on a theme.

"We hoped to create an awareness in students. We needed to have challenging programs," said St. Joseph principal Flo Campbell.

The novel learning regime had its roots in a tour of Alberta schools with similar schemes, and after talking to several experts in the education field.

The program is offered for French immersion and English-speaking students. The program is run by part-time teacher Carmen Gobeil.

Gobeil says students enjoy many benefits from the program. "These students become driven to motivate and push themselves, and this translates to their work in the classroom," she said.

"It improves their creative thinking and independent learning skills. This makes learning a little more challenging and interesting at their level."

Students are placed into three groups - Grades 1-3, Grades 4-6 and Grades 7-8 - with one group per cycle participating in the program.

In these groups, students are then given themes and asked to design their own projects to fulfil self-directed goals.

This process gives students an opportunity to build new skills to better understand the world they live in and how they learn best as individuals, said Gobeil. The students use projects and presentations to demonstrate the knowledge and skills they've learned instead of a test.

Students were also able to understand why they were learning certain topics, said Campbell.

"It's like asking an artist to create a map of Canada to demonstrate they know the provincial capitals instead of having that person do a written test," Campbell said.

Approximately 100 students are involved in the program this year.

This year, Grade 4 and 5 students in French immersion made projects celebrating St. Joe's through technology.

"It was really fun to do special activities like learning how to make a video and work in a group," said 11-year-old Zoe Guile.

Her mother, Michelle Guile, thinks the enrichment program offers students a learning opportunity they wouldn't have otherwise.

"This isn't something they do on a daily basis."

Parents of the students are invited to attend presentations of the projects. Students are evaluated on their projects and grades are awarded.

The program is under evaluation, but with the success they feel is evident in the quality of the projects, St. Joe's faculty and administration are set to bring independent projects and new teaching techniques into every classroom.

Students participating in the enrichment program worked on projects for the National Historica Fair last year.