CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT
Project Overview:
“Parents fight change because they believe the best thing for their kids is to have an experience like theirs – which they recall through the rose-tinted lens of nostalgia”
(Wolfson, Newsweek).
Educational change is a major theme in scholarly articles, but it has also become a prominent topic in popular culture and public discourse as well. I came across the above quote while reading about a story in Newsweek magazine that highlighted changes that were being implemented at a new school in Connecticut. The article went on to discuss how the Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet Campus was trying to break down the walls of traditional educational institutions, and create a facility that was more in tune with the needs of students moving forward. The author, Elijah Wolfson, went on to describe the school as a “standout example of what could be the first major shift in classroom design since the one-room schoolhouse” (Wolfson, 2014, Newsweek).
Figure 1: Aerial image of the Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet Campus. Courtesy of Hearst Connecticut Media
While the article went on to detail more about this cutting edge school, I could not help but wonder, why this could not be done right here in our own backyard? Better yet, why couldn’t we reconfigure what schools look, act, and feel like, by using them in a different way? The Bridgeport Public School district spent nearly $130 million dollars to build their dream school (Wolfson, 2014, Newsweek). We need to explore ways to redesign, rethink and remix the schools we already have? While funding totals for operating budgets have increased over the past decade, the annual amount set aside for B.C.’s 60 school districts has increased by less than $400-million dollars since 2006, while the per student allocation amount has only recently reached above the $7000 threshold per full-time student. Due in part to these strains on budgets, districts across the province need to stretch their dollars even further.
The rationale behind my project is simple. There is only a finite amount of funding available in the public system in British Columbia, so it is paramount to make changes at the district, school, and classroom level across the province, to help better stretch taxpayer dollars in order to better serve student interests. To do this, educational leaders across BC should consider:
Adapting physical spaces. One of the central themes found throughout the literature researched for this project, was making sure the students have a say in the design process (Read, 2010; Johnson & Ruiter, 2013). As crucial lighting, paint colour, the configuration, and furnishings are within a school or classroom, equally as important is the feel and flow of each room. New classroom need to be welcoming places for students to learn, relax, collaborate, and work. Important for educators, is the accessibility of their classrooms. It should be a place where they have room to move around, somewhere where they can create work zones, and still have enough space to store their resources (Bill, 2014, Edutopia). Coffee shops, restaurants and even playgrounds have changed dramatically since the turn of the 21st century, so why is it that many classrooms still look the same as they did in nearly a century ago?
Adopting more a student-centred and inquiry-based approach. Changes in educational approaches that increase student engagement, work creatively and collaboratively and teach learners the 21st Century skills so that they can be better prepared to innovate and rethink the as yet unknown problems of tomorrow. In order to do this, there also needs to be a priority shift towards investing in committed educational professionals, so that they have the training, resources, and time to do the sort of meaningful, hands-on learning that will be discussed further in this project.
The two primary approaches that will be discussed are inquiry-based learning (IBL) and problem-based learning (PBL). Both are similar in nature, in that they are framed around the principle that students’ learn best through inquiry and experimentation, but there are subtle differences in how they are facilitated and taught.
Below is a modified comparison chart that outlines some of the key similarities and differences in the approaches, as outlined in Unver and Arabaciouglu’s 2011 journal article, Overviews on Inquiry Based and Problem Based Learning Methods.
As a public school teacher, I have implemented problem-based lessons in my classes, and admittedly there have been challenges in adopting PBL in the classroom. The difficulties have stemmed from the amount of preparation necessary to adequately prepare students and the development of clear research questions for student projects. Despite the difficulties in adapting from a teacher-led lesson, to an inquiry-based lesson, the results in student engagement have been worth the extra work. Any perceived failures in classroom execution and delivery were my own, and did not mitigate the educational value of the work done. Quite the contrary, my stumbles laid a path for the successes that came later. Learning through doing is a far greater teacher than learning through observation alone, which again are key elements to the IBL and PBL approaches.
As a teacher in the public system of British Columbia, I place a great deal of importance on public education and access to the resources that are necessary to elevate, improve, and invigorate our schools. There could be an argument that improvements can only come with increased funding, but I believe there is a way to make better use of our existing facilities. There are other ways to structure the teaching day. There is an opportunity to turn existing conventions on their ear, and make the classroom a place where individualism and imagination flourishes and where schools cater to the students, and not the other way around.
Research Problem. Educators in British Columbia have an opportunity to be on the cutting edge of what public school education can look like in the 21st century. With the pending launch of the new BC curriculum, teachers, administrators and district leaders across the province can take a huge step ahead, by reimagining what schools and classrooms look like for BC students. How can this be accomplished? What are the best classroom teaching approaches to help students learn in a more creative, collaborative and authentic environment? What skills will help students thrive in an ever-changing world? How can these approaches be combined with the government mandated changes that are being proposed in the new BC curriculum?
Literature review. The purpose of the literature review is to look at different articles, educational publications and videos that address the topics of physical design, student-centred inquiry-based learning, and seeing how they coincide or can be implemented or adopted into the all-new BC Curriculum.
Masters project. There is a need for a new outlook on how, who, what, where, and why we teach what we do in British Columbia. There is also a need for someone to assess possible answers to these questions, and to present them in a way that is easily digestible, relevant, and applicable. The intention of this project, is to create a document that can serve as a blueprint for how schools can remake themselves. It will provide academic and industry related research to back up the ideas that will be forwarded. The project will also feature images, diagrams, resources and lessons to help educators better understand the applicability of the project. The information will be compiled in a digital format for easy sharing and accessibility, with the intention of making it available to anyone who wishes to take on the challenge of reimagining and remaking their classroom or school.
Project Overview:
“Parents fight change because they believe the best thing for their kids is to have an experience like theirs – which they recall through the rose-tinted lens of nostalgia”
(Wolfson, Newsweek).
Educational change is a major theme in scholarly articles, but it has also become a prominent topic in popular culture and public discourse as well. I came across the above quote while reading about a story in Newsweek magazine that highlighted changes that were being implemented at a new school in Connecticut. The article went on to discuss how the Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet Campus was trying to break down the walls of traditional educational institutions, and create a facility that was more in tune with the needs of students moving forward. The author, Elijah Wolfson, went on to describe the school as a “standout example of what could be the first major shift in classroom design since the one-room schoolhouse” (Wolfson, 2014, Newsweek).
Figure 1: Aerial image of the Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet Campus. Courtesy of Hearst Connecticut Media
While the article went on to detail more about this cutting edge school, I could not help but wonder, why this could not be done right here in our own backyard? Better yet, why couldn’t we reconfigure what schools look, act, and feel like, by using them in a different way? The Bridgeport Public School district spent nearly $130 million dollars to build their dream school (Wolfson, 2014, Newsweek). We need to explore ways to redesign, rethink and remix the schools we already have? While funding totals for operating budgets have increased over the past decade, the annual amount set aside for B.C.’s 60 school districts has increased by less than $400-million dollars since 2006, while the per student allocation amount has only recently reached above the $7000 threshold per full-time student. Due in part to these strains on budgets, districts across the province need to stretch their dollars even further.
The rationale behind my project is simple. There is only a finite amount of funding available in the public system in British Columbia, so it is paramount to make changes at the district, school, and classroom level across the province, to help better stretch taxpayer dollars in order to better serve student interests. To do this, educational leaders across BC should consider:
- Adapting the physical design and layout of their existing facilities to create more creative and collaborative environments,
- Adopting a more student-centred, inquiry-based learning models,
- Consider how these changes can be implemented into the new BC Curriculum.
Adapting physical spaces. One of the central themes found throughout the literature researched for this project, was making sure the students have a say in the design process (Read, 2010; Johnson & Ruiter, 2013). As crucial lighting, paint colour, the configuration, and furnishings are within a school or classroom, equally as important is the feel and flow of each room. New classroom need to be welcoming places for students to learn, relax, collaborate, and work. Important for educators, is the accessibility of their classrooms. It should be a place where they have room to move around, somewhere where they can create work zones, and still have enough space to store their resources (Bill, 2014, Edutopia). Coffee shops, restaurants and even playgrounds have changed dramatically since the turn of the 21st century, so why is it that many classrooms still look the same as they did in nearly a century ago?
Adopting more a student-centred and inquiry-based approach. Changes in educational approaches that increase student engagement, work creatively and collaboratively and teach learners the 21st Century skills so that they can be better prepared to innovate and rethink the as yet unknown problems of tomorrow. In order to do this, there also needs to be a priority shift towards investing in committed educational professionals, so that they have the training, resources, and time to do the sort of meaningful, hands-on learning that will be discussed further in this project.
The two primary approaches that will be discussed are inquiry-based learning (IBL) and problem-based learning (PBL). Both are similar in nature, in that they are framed around the principle that students’ learn best through inquiry and experimentation, but there are subtle differences in how they are facilitated and taught.
Below is a modified comparison chart that outlines some of the key similarities and differences in the approaches, as outlined in Unver and Arabaciouglu’s 2011 journal article, Overviews on Inquiry Based and Problem Based Learning Methods.
As a public school teacher, I have implemented problem-based lessons in my classes, and admittedly there have been challenges in adopting PBL in the classroom. The difficulties have stemmed from the amount of preparation necessary to adequately prepare students and the development of clear research questions for student projects. Despite the difficulties in adapting from a teacher-led lesson, to an inquiry-based lesson, the results in student engagement have been worth the extra work. Any perceived failures in classroom execution and delivery were my own, and did not mitigate the educational value of the work done. Quite the contrary, my stumbles laid a path for the successes that came later. Learning through doing is a far greater teacher than learning through observation alone, which again are key elements to the IBL and PBL approaches.
As a teacher in the public system of British Columbia, I place a great deal of importance on public education and access to the resources that are necessary to elevate, improve, and invigorate our schools. There could be an argument that improvements can only come with increased funding, but I believe there is a way to make better use of our existing facilities. There are other ways to structure the teaching day. There is an opportunity to turn existing conventions on their ear, and make the classroom a place where individualism and imagination flourishes and where schools cater to the students, and not the other way around.
Research Problem. Educators in British Columbia have an opportunity to be on the cutting edge of what public school education can look like in the 21st century. With the pending launch of the new BC curriculum, teachers, administrators and district leaders across the province can take a huge step ahead, by reimagining what schools and classrooms look like for BC students. How can this be accomplished? What are the best classroom teaching approaches to help students learn in a more creative, collaborative and authentic environment? What skills will help students thrive in an ever-changing world? How can these approaches be combined with the government mandated changes that are being proposed in the new BC curriculum?
Literature review. The purpose of the literature review is to look at different articles, educational publications and videos that address the topics of physical design, student-centred inquiry-based learning, and seeing how they coincide or can be implemented or adopted into the all-new BC Curriculum.
Masters project. There is a need for a new outlook on how, who, what, where, and why we teach what we do in British Columbia. There is also a need for someone to assess possible answers to these questions, and to present them in a way that is easily digestible, relevant, and applicable. The intention of this project, is to create a document that can serve as a blueprint for how schools can remake themselves. It will provide academic and industry related research to back up the ideas that will be forwarded. The project will also feature images, diagrams, resources and lessons to help educators better understand the applicability of the project. The information will be compiled in a digital format for easy sharing and accessibility, with the intention of making it available to anyone who wishes to take on the challenge of reimagining and remaking their classroom or school.