COURSE ROOMS"
In addition to the usual classrooms, laboratories, teachers, books and blackboards found in all traditional schools, something different you may notice in our Upper School is that what looks like a library is always full of students, individuals quietly and avidly studying, surrounded with shelves full of books, dictionaries, encyclopedia, maps, charts and other reference materials. Next door is a rather lively room also full of students mostly working in pairs discussing, testing, demonstrating, or doing repetitive drills. Not typical classrooms, these are the Theory Course Room and Practical Course Room.
The Theory and Practical Course Rooms are where many subjects can be studied at the individual student's maximum pace. In the Theory Course Room, students study and research their source and reference materials, write essays and perform any quiet practical drills or actions. The Practical Course Room is where students do many of the noisier drills, debate and discuss their subject, test out for themselves the practical application of the information or do repetitive drills to gain proficiency in an action. It is generally a lively and active place.
In the Course Room when students are studying for a specific subject such as English, they are supervised by specialist subject teachers and supervisors trained specifically in Study Technology. Lower Seniors normally have Course Room periods in the morning, and move on to classroom lessons for the afternoons.
Upper Seniors are taught GCSE subjects by specialist teachers in class lessons and go into the Course Room occasionally for private studies.
Greenfields has, over the years, developed checksheets for many subjects in the National Curriculum which provide a thorough study of a subject done at the student's own maximum pace. These have proven to be extremely effective in helping students achieve a thorough grasp of the subjects addressed as well as excellent examination results.
A checksheet is not the same as a simple checklist of items. An innovative development that is part of L. Ron Hubbard's Study Technology, a checksheet includes a list of the materials to be studied in a specific sequence, basics first, then building upon what has been learned, moving onto more complex issues. Interjected immediately after a theorem or datum or a presentation of specific information, a checksheet may include drills, essays and practical demonstrations of each principle presented. Our checksheets also include class lectures, outings and research projects to help the student understand the applications of that information, how it relates to other information, and how it applies in life. In this way, a student is guided initially through the fundamentals of a subject, then building upon those basics, moves onto more complex issues. The drills, essays and demonstrations, outings and projects ensure students evaluate the information and see for themselves how it really works or how the information applies in life.
Completion of a checksheet results in the student knowing and understanding the subjects, having successfully demonstrated a grasp of the materials studied so that the student can apply the information and/or skills learned and has passed a test on the materials studied.
