CAS (Creativity Action Service)

• CAS experiences involving one or more of the 3 CAS strands. A CAS experience can be a single event or may be an extended series of events.  There are multiple experiences that must be completed. 

• CAS Project. The CAS Project is at least one month in duration and it challenges students to show initiative, demonstrate perseverance, and develop skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, and decision-making.  The CAS project can address any single strand of CAS or combine two or all three strands.  

Students are required to make sure that all 7 of the CAS learning goals are addressed following the completion of their experiences/project.  All 7 do not need to be included in each experience; however, all 7 must be used throughout the 18 months.

CAS is organized around 3 strands of creativity, activity and service defined as follows:

• Creativity – exploring and extending ideas leading to an original or interpretive product or performance

• Activity – physical exertion contribution to a healthy lifestyle

• Service – collaborative and reciprocal engagement with the community in response to an authentic need

For each of a student’s CAS experiences/project, a framework should be followed.  This framework is called the 5 CAS learning stages.  They are:

1. Investigation

2. Preparation

3. Action

4. Reflection

5. Demonstration

Completion of CAS experience/project is based on student achievement of the 7 CAS learning outcomes.  A student must use all 7 of these learning outcomes (not on each experience/project but over the 18 month process) throughout their experiences/project.  The learning outcomes are:

1. Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

4. Show commitment to a perseverance in CAS experiences

5. Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

6. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

• Beginning of junior year – Meet with the CAS coordinator and complete a formal interview. This is a time to ask questions about CAS and get a clear understanding of what is expected.

• During junior year – Students should reflect on their CAS experiences and provide evidence in their Managebac accounts of achieving the 7 learning outcomes. Students should be regularly inputting CAS experiences, ideally on a weekly basis, for at least 18 months with a reasonable balance between creativity, activity and service.

• End of junior year – Meet with the CAS coordinator and complete a mid-session formal review of your CAS experience so far. There would also be a discussion about the CAS project at this time too.

• During senior year – Continue reflecting on their CAS experiences/project and providing evidence in their Managebac accounts.

• Senior year end of CAS program (month of April) – Last formal interview to summarize their CAS experience/project and receive final completion approval on CAS.

• Students could engage in creative writing, produce audiobooks for the blind or write a movie and produce it.

• Students could provide language lessons to those in need, develop language guides using technology or raise awareness of the culture of the language being studied through a website or other forms of communication.

• Students could record the oral histories of people living in elderly residential facilities and create family memoirs, create a social enterprise addressing a community need or collaborate on a community garden.

• Students could form an astronomy club for younger students, help maintain a nature reserve or promote physical participation in “walk to school” groups.

• Student could teach younger children to overcome mathematical challenges, maintain financial accounts for a local charity or plan a mathematics scavenger hunt at school to highlight the importance of mathematics in every life.

• Students could take dance lessons that lead to a theatrical performance, participate in a community art exhibition or community initiatives (such as performances or photo exhibits) for hospitals or aged-care facilities.

Remember these are at least a month in length:

• Aiding those in need – Elderly who need help around their homes

• Art exhibition – Setting up and facilitating a diverse art exhibition

• Donation Campaign

• Home Construction – This could be related to aiding those in need

• Zoo Involvement

• Music concert for a cause

• Toy repair workshop

• Bicycle repair clinics

• Animal shelter, adoption or rescue