our american curriculum
Beyond Traditional
VERSO, with a curriculum focused on personalized learning, has moved beyond a traditional ‘one-size-fits-all’ education, placing each learner at the center of their own learning. Learners are organized into mixed-age groups, or cohorts, and work with a team of Learning Designers. We value curiosity, self-direction, and independence, helping our learners to think and behave like designers. Design Thinking is central to all learning at VERSO. We emphasize depth and flow in how we organize the school day.
VERSO is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and our learners will graduate with an American high school diploma. Our diploma will enable them to apply to universities and colleges around the world.
- design thinking
- project-based learning
- INTERDISCIPLINARY LEARNING
- competency-based learning
- Language learning
Design Thinking is a mindset that we want to foster in our learners and Learning Designers at VERSO, both in theory and application. Inspired by the work of IDEO, the world’s leading design and innovation company and their human-centered approach to design-thinking, we have developed our own simple framework. As a school with a progressive US curriculum driven by design, this framework will guide us in our understanding, reasoning and actions.
Studies have shown that Design Thinking increases learner engagement and achievement. This process empowers learners to take ownership over their learning and they are able to make meaningful connections to what they learn in the classroom and how it relates to their lives. A focus on Design Thinking helps develop empathy by encouraging learners to understand and address the needs and perspectives of others, while also fostering creative, solution-based thinking. These are highly valuable and sought after skills that the learners can confidently apply to any personal or professional path they choose.
At VERSO we embrace Project-based Learning (PBL) as a central teaching method and our learners spend 70% of their time actively engaging in relevant and meaningful projects that challenge them in a rigorous solution-finding process.
Through the PBL approach, learners gain knowledge and skills by working on projects over an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.
At the end of the project, learners have the opportunity to share their learning through demonstration, showcase, explanation or by exhibiting their knowledge and skills to an authentic audience. Through this process, learners solidify their content knowledge as well as critical thinking, and a variety of collaborative, creative, and communication skills.
Project-based Learning is transformative for learners. It empowers them to explore and discover questions that matter to them. It builds academic knowledge, develops a wide range of skills and cultivates a positive attitude towards learning. PBL blends content mastery, meaningful work, and personal connection to create powerful learning experiences, for individual growth and academic achievement.
PBL is:
A learning approach that requires action, not just theory
- A well-researched teaching methodology
- Well-established in education and being implemented in many schools across the world
- A process through which learners build character as well as intellect
- A learning approach that requires action, not just theory
- Self-directed, giving learners agency and responsibility
- A method that connects academic topics to the real world
- An approach where learners do real work, learning by doing and experiencing real situations
- An effective way to promote understanding and deeper learning
At VERSO, we believe learning should be as engaging and blended as your favorite Thai dessert. Instead of serving up subjects in isolation, we mix them together in meaningful ways—so learners feast on knowledge that’s rich, connected, and relevant to the real world.
A Visual (and Delicious!) Guide to Disciplinary Approaches
Take a look at our sticky-rice infographic showing three “recipes” for learning:
- Intra-disciplinary (the solo bowl):
A single bowl of sticky rice cooked with coconut milk—no mango or toppings added. This represents studying one subject on its own. - Multi-disciplinary (the ingredient spread):
Separate bowls of sticky rice, mango slices, yellow mung beans, and a jug of coconut milk (with its little palm-tree icon). Each ingredient sits by itself—like learning multiple subjects side by side without mixing ideas. - Interdisciplinary (the full plate):
A perfect plate of mango sticky rice where creamy coconut milk, sweet mango, and crunchy toppings all mingle together. Here, disciplines blend—science lends us the recipe, art designs the plate, and math measures each scoop.
Why VERSO Chooses Interdisciplinary Learning Wherever Possible
Our interdisciplinary, project-based, learner-centered approach lets learners:
- Connect to the real world. They see how ideas from different subjects work together in everyday life.
- Engage in higher-level thinking. Rather than memorizing facts, learners ask “why?” and “how?” as they explore.
- Take ownership of their learning. Learners set goals, track their progress, and adjust their “recipe” to meet objectives.
- Stay motivated. When your work feels relevant—mixing subjects just like mango and rice—it’s simply more delicious.
At VERSO, we use competency-based learning (CBL) to equip learners with the understanding and skills they will need to succeed in university and beyond.
By embedding traditional content and credit requirements into a competency-based learning (CBL) model, allows learners to meet today’s educational requirements while engaging in a progressive and co-created curriculum that helps them adapt to tomorrow’s expectations in an increasingly competitive and global economy. We believe that authentic learning is best demonstrated through evidence of proficiency of learning outcomes, rather than hours spent inside a classroom.
In a CBL model, learners are positioned at the center of the learning experience, giving them agency and ownership of their learning, providing equity within the learning space. Assessment is an iterative process, and empowers learners to transfer their learning across multiple contexts.
Following an American curriculum, VERSO International School welcomes all learners and seeks to understand, affirm, and promote their language and cultural backgrounds. All learners have a unique language profile shaped by relationships and interactions within their own family, culture, and the wider world. The continued development of home and family languages is important for cognitive growth and nourishing cultural identity.
Language is one of many ways we promote our three purpose pillars. Whether it’s personal and cultural identity, engagement with the world, or having the confidence to lead your own journey, we recognize that languages are a really important aspect of learning at VERSO.
English is the medium of instruction at VERSO and is our primary language for communication. For languages other than English, we have a team of specialist Learning Designers supporting both Thai and Chinese (Mandarin). The Thai program is primarily a first-language program focusing on further developing learners’ literacy skills and offering second language Thai for non-Thai students. The Chinese program is a language acquisition program for second or additional language learners. Learners can request to study a third language if they are meeting expectations in English. It is expected that all learners meet a minimum of WIDA Level 4 before taking on further languages.
