Glenbow School has fostered a culture where global and environmental stewardship are foundational habits of mind that are embedded in everything they do. School initiatives such as a community garden, annual tree planting, upkeep of the local watershed, a natural grasslands area, and an all-inclusive recycling program not only foster responsible global citizens but also provide a spark for classroom based inquiry work which in turn accelerates the students and [ Read More ]
The grade three teachers at Prairie Waters Elementary embarked on a pursuit of “inquiry” in their classrooms. In this video is a sharing of their observations where they discuss engagement, collaboration and true learning.
Denise Weaver of Prairie Waters Elementary has been on a journey exploring inquiry for a number of years. The video in this post shares the story of her passion, the changes in her classroom, teaching stye and the resulting changes in student engagement and learning.
A key element of inquiry based learning is authenticity; learning needs to be situated in the real world context in which it lives. To contextualize learning and enhance authenticity we need to go beyond the walls of our classrooms and schools and engage with the real issues, living disciplines, and experts in our communities. Schools are looking for ways to create partnerships with other organizations and develop relationships with local [ Read More ]
Throughout a year long inquiry, Grade 7 students worked to develop an understanding of “best practices” in cultural contact. Students explored the opportunities and challenges that were presented by cultural contact in Canadian History. The students learned that Canadian History is, in many ways, a story of cultural contact rife with successes and challenges created by the interactions of First Nations people, French, British and other European immigrants. The students [ Read More ]
This post showcases a robotics inquiry project embarked upon by grade 8 students at Langdon School. The striking part about this project is the level of engagement facilitated by the instructional design. In this project students were challenged to work collaboratively to build a robot that could move a load through a “simple machine” obstacle course. Students worked collaboratively with a group of peers in their class and uniquely they [ Read More ]
Grade 2 students at Ecole Elbow Valley Elementary investigate the bigfoot phenomenon and in the process grapple with what constitutes scientific truth, explore the interconnection of fact and fiction, learn to judge the reliability of sources, and ultimately engage their curiosity and wonder about the mysteries of the world.
