Tag Archives: inquiry hub

iHub Garden Build

  April 28, 2013 - 2:07 pm | , , , , , , , ,
2 Comments
iHub-Green-Inquiry-Garden-By-Richard-Stewart

[Cross-Posted on the HUB Blog] Last Friday three students at the Inquiry Hub Secondary School, in Coquitlam BC, organized a garden build. It started with Grade 9 student, Shauna, applying for and getting a World Wildlife Fund grant. This led to some inquiry questions around the best soil, water and temperature conditions for growing lettuce. And Friday’s garden build was the latest progress in developing an urban/inquiry garden for our school. Everything about this garden … Continue reading →

My 7th Blogiversary

  March 31, 2013 - 11:59 pm | , , , , , ,
4 Comments
Blurring-Identity

I write for me, I share with you, and the world seems a little smaller. Just like last year, here is my blog’s year in review: The posts I’ve written and a quote from each. I hope that you will find something that appeals to you. (Mouse-over the post title links to find out a bit more about each post.) If you have subscribed to, commented on, linked to, or simply taken the time to read my blog… I say … Continue reading →

Badges, Gaming, and Digital Media

  January 30, 2013 - 8:10 pm | , , , , ,
13 Comments

  I’ve been outspoken on  the topic of adding rewards & incentives or ‘carrots‘ to courses and classroom management, and so it is rather unusual for me to be thinking about things like implementing badges. However, I’m very interested in using gaming strategies in education and I’m also interested in providing students with opportunities to both learn at their own pace, and also to represent how they have met criteria or learning outcomes in ways … Continue reading →

Inquiry Hub – Rethink Learning

  January 23, 2013 - 5:55 am | , , , , , , , ,
3 Comments
InquiryHub-Rethink-Learning

Here is the slide presentation from our Inquiry Hub Information Session on January 22nd, 2013. Inquiry Hub – Rethink Learning from David Truss My favourite part of the presentation was the Question period when I was able to defer questions to our students that presented with us. It speaks volumes when you think that these students have only been with us for 1/2 a year and already they have fully bought into what we are … Continue reading →

Applications of Digital Literacy

  January 11, 2013 - 8:46 am | , , ,
10 Comments
DM101-Footprint

Applications of Digital Literacy is a course that I helped create for the Inquiry Hub. It is one of two courses principal Stephen Whiffin and I decided to develop as local board approved courses*, the other course is Foundations of Inquiry. Stephen humourously calls these ‘mandatory electives’ since we decided that these would be requisite courses for anyone coming to the Inquiry Hub. The idea is that we do not expect students to come to … Continue reading →

7 Ways to Transform Your Classroom

  September 27, 2012 - 6:45 am | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
26 Comments

I’m honoured to have been invited as a guest on Classroom 2.0 Live this Saturday morning, September 29th, 2012. I joined the Classroom2.0 Ning back in 2007, and I think it is a wonderful network to help new and seasoned teachers engage in a meaningful social network. [UPDATE: Here are audio & video recordings of the show:  Inquiry Learning and Empowering Students and the accompanying slide show is embedded below.] I’ll be talking about Inquiry … Continue reading →

Digital Literacy, toothpaste and the Inquiry Hub

  September 10, 2012 - 6:54 am | , , , , , , , ,
10 Comments

In February I got to help write a course called Applications of Digital Literacy. As Jill, from Staff development, and I sat down to get things started, we discussed the fact that really we were developing a course that would hopefully be redundant in 5 years… because students by then would be coming out of Middle School with all of the necessary skills already. For now, I think this is a very valuable course and … Continue reading →

Still sold on Laptops over iPads

  June 28, 2012 - 7:28 am | , , ,
14 Comments
"Shift Control"

I know that I’ve already expressed this view in my BYOL vs BYOD post, but here are two more reasons why I think laptops are the better way to go… I find that I’m using my iPad more and more, but for consuming information, not creating it. Reason (1) comes from a student, while reason (2) is a strictly personal experience. (1) We were at the Calgary Science School and two Grade 7′s, Kristen and … Continue reading →

Inquiry Resources from CSS and the ConnectedEd Canada Conference

  May 29, 2012 - 7:18 am | , , , , , , , , , , , ,
8 Comments

The ConnectEd Canada Conference was an overwhelming success! Here is the recipe for those who want to plan a conference: 1. Run the first day in a great school, with classes in session and with student tour guides. 2. Invite presenters who want to have a conversation rather than do a presentation. 3. Provide ample time between sessions for conversations to continue. 4. Make digital conversations/social media conversations the expectation and the norm. I’m sure … Continue reading →

BYOL vs BYOD

  May 22, 2012 - 9:13 am | , , , , , , , ,
10 Comments

I’m a big fan of BYOL – Bring Your Own Laptop to school. The laptop is the new pencil… a tool necessary for an effective education today.  I also think that a district-provided laptop, in public education, is not financially feasible. However, supporting families that can not afford to send their child to school with a laptop is supportable, effective and essential to a BYOL program. When I wrote the (intentionally oversimplified) ‘5 Year Technology … Continue reading →