66. Chilcotin 360
District No. 27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin) The project aims to give our Indigenous youth an opportunity to share their communities with the world. We will use innovative technology to build 360 degree community tours with embedded content that can be viewed through a shared weblink online. The project hopes to share the language, culture and pride of […]
63. Sparwood Secondary School Sawmill
District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay) This project explores student engagement with community partners in the local and regional economic activity of turning natural resources into valuable products. In doing so, it creates new opportunities for reconsidering curriculum in unique and situated ways.
62. Moveable and Organic Classroom
District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay) This project explores and discerns student engagement with the outdoors, especially in respect of both core curriculum and First Peoples Principles of Learning. In doing so, it seeks also to engage community and reimagine education in pandemic times. Especially timely in pandemic times, this project is following inquiry outdoors…towards a […]
60. SSS Diversity Team
District: No. 54 (Bulkley Valley) This project explores and extends increased engagement of students with diverse strengths and needs through relationship building in often spontaneous and informal education. It also looks to share its inquiries and findings with neighbouring schools and communities. We welcomed the opportunity to engage with this project in considering its 2020 […]
59. Designing Math for All Learners
District: No. 54 (Bulkley Valley) This project extends innovative approaches to inclusion into elementary mathematics education, building capacities of teachers to help them focus better on the competencies of their students. With this project’s leadership, the 2020 Rural Schools Symposium was able to discuss and consider its story of innovation and shared artifact: a fractions 7 […]
58. South Okanagan Secondary School Equine Pilot Project
District: No. 53 (Okanagan Similkameen) Supporting those less well served by conventional education, this pilot project aims to deepen understanding of the new curriculum and First Peoples Principles of learning through using horses to develop relationships that engage stress and emotional management, self-concept and self-talk, personal responsibility, group dynamics, conflict resolution and empathy.
57. Food Literacy and Sustainable Practices in Rossland Summit School Cafeteria
District: No. 20 (Kootenay-Columbia) Exploring cross-curricular and multigrade pedagogical innovation in a placed-based approach to sustainable living and a classroom to community model, this project engages farming, food, sustainability, with Indigenous ways of knowing and within community connections. Here is this project’s 2020 Rural Schools Symposium presentation (.pdf opens in new window)
54. Exploring Science through a New Lens
District: No. 60. (Peace River North) A regional science fair committee from schools in the North East of B.C. takes the lead in this project to both spark interest in and develop Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) technology in education with students and, through this, to extend critical questions about knowledge, understanding and place. […]
53. Connected Classrooms – French Immersion Instruction
District: No. 59. (Peace River South) In Dawson Creek and Chetwynd, B.C., this project seeks to “explore alternative ways at delivering French programming” at district high schools involving Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. Here is the Connected Classrooms 2018-2019 final project report (opens in new tab).
52. Exploring Virtual Reality through 360 Degree Video
District: No. 52. (Prince Rupert) As “entry points for students to be creative and see results quickly through this technology” this project in Prince Rupert B.C., explores VR in uses developed and led by high school students in “collaboration, experimentation and problem solving” in an “an opportunity to promote and celebrate what makes us unique […]
51. Creating VR Place-consciousness Connections
District: No. 10. (Arrow Lakes) This project’s aim is to explore the integration of Virtual Reality and Place-Conscious learning. Teachers and students from three communities (Nakusp, Edgewood and New Denver) are developing new ways to collaborate in developing this intriguing project that seeks to lay the groundwork for future education in the region that is […]
50. Capturing the Stories Using Green Screen Technology
District: No. 8. (Kootenay Lake) In South Nelson, B.C., this project marries intergenerational learning and technology in student-led historical inquiry (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous) toward contributions to community self-understandings. Initial artifacts and project documentation have been shared below! Our inquiry started with exchanging stories with the Tlicho Dene people in Gameti, NWT. We shared introductions and maps of our […]
49. Understanding our Species at Risk from their Viewpoint
District: No. 6. (Rocky Mountain) How can VR/AR (Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality) provide students and schools new opportunities to “create context, and interact with our surroundings, and consult with many specialists that work in our valley”? Using new technology and problem-based learning to interact in new ways with place is generating new understandings through student inquiries […]
48. Sparking Student Engagement with Immersive VR Experiences
District: No. 5. (Southeast Kootenay) This project explores the “barriers and benefits” of using Virtual Reality (VR) in an educational environment. With the involvement of 5 local communities (Cranbrook, Jaffray, Fernie, Sparwood, Elkford), all schools in this district will participate in developing a “student centered, inquiry-based approach” in the use of VR in exploring student […]
45. Enhancing Quality Teaching Through Collaborative Learning
District: No. 54 (Bulkley Valley) Through the provision of collaborative, co-planning and co-teaching opportunities for educators, this project explores the effects of quality teaching and leadership development on student success and completion. It will also be concerned with what it makes possible in connections among schools and with communities (in Houston and Smithers, B.C.). Initial artifacts and […]
44. Plastic to School and Beyond: A Social Venture
District : No. 50. (Haida Gwaii) Chemistry, sustainability and student emotional connections with curriculum are central to this project in “applied study,” where converting plastics to fuel to evaporate salt for development of a marketable herbal remedy will involve community members in cross-curricular student-led environmental stewardship in an entrepreneurial spirit. This artifact is a picture of […]
33. Deepening Connections in the Middle Years Program
District: No. 91 (Nechako Lakes) Through student-driven inquiry across a number of important local initiatives, this project will ‘diffuse the boundaries between school and community’ to better integrate the two both enrich learning and improve the community – while considering resultant student engagement and sustainable and generative local connections among school and its place. As […]
31. Community Connections: Learning and Teaching Haida Language
District: No. 50 (Haida Gwaii) This project explores what happens when students are taken into the heart of the Haida community to nurture relationships and language learning with Elders. It will create a community classroom (school outside the conventional school building) in order to empower First Nations learners through visits to the Skidegate Haida Immersion […]
27. Cariboo-Chilcotin Outdoor Classroom
District: No. 27 (Cariboo-Chilcotin) A very large rural district investigates moving rural education outdoors by engaging natural areas as sites for both curricular outcomes and connecting students to their natural communities – and to each other. This project is evolving into developing teacher capacity for outdoor education by way of a new mentoring initiative in […]
26. Designing for Change Paddling with Passion and Purpose
District: No. 10 (Arrow Lakes) Students at four schools – and throughout the district – participate with teachers, local artists and designers, to investigate the forms and fruits of creative thinking, critical thinking and engagement in design thinking through hands-on project based learning. This project is evolving with the participation of community members and the […]
23. Evolving our Full Cycle Food Project: The Crawford Bay School Garden
District: No. 8 (Kootenay Lake) From the Elementary/Secondary school in Crawford Bay, this project investigates food self-sufficiency in relation to youth leadership in community involvement. Aimed at “developing youth leaders in the evolution of human-scale agriculture, local food processing, environmental responsibility, and community building”, The Full Cycle Food Project at Crawford Bay Elementary/Secondary School is […]
17. Elementary Connected Classrooms
District: No. 74 (Gold Trail) Elementary and secondary teachers and students in rural schools in Lytton, Ashcroft, Clinton and Lillooet will be linked in connected classrooms and via other digital (& also physical) means. We are proud to have a new Growing Innovation Project video to share. This one is from one of our original […]
16. Technology Embedded Learning and Assessment at DCSS
District: No. 59 (Peace River South) This project has evolved from a focus on Project Based Learning into examining the coordination and development of digital resources for students in concert with new ways of collaborating and planning among teachers at Dawson Creek Secondary School. Here is a video about this project – About an initiative […]
12. Community Partnerships
District: No. 51 (Boundary) The project engages students in Midway in Community partnerships, technology, and functional curriculum to focus on ways to support rural secondary students with special needs. A very succinct and informative presentation on this project is to be found HERE. “UBC Research grant used to develop curriculum” – Two local newspaper articles (PDF) […]
11. Collaboration without Boundaries
District: No. 85 (Vancouver Island North) At Eagle View Elementary School in Port Hardy, this project will explore ways to encourage greater family participation in education through a wide range of communication tools. Visit the project blog HERE. Here is a video about this project – Here are some project related pictures – Growing Innovations Team […]
9. Connecting Generations
District: No. 64 (Gulf Islands) On Salt Spring Island, the Connecting Generations project continues to expand and redefine itself in response to the new opportunities it creates for students, educators and their community. Continuing is building bridges between generations through dialogue, intergenerational learning and relationship building. New project videos: Surrendering to Spontaneity and Weaving a Mentorship: Room to […]
8. Global Citizens as Renewable Energy Consumers
District: No. 69 (Qualicum) Students at False Bay School on Lasqueti Island will build positive understandings of renewable energy systems and social responsibility by examining local solar, micro-hydro and wind power projects with area experts. Here is a video about the project based at False Bay school on Lasqueti Island: Here are some project related […]
7. Nature Kindergarten
District: No. 62 (Sooke) The district will develop a Full Day Nature Kindergarten program that provides children the opportunity to learn in a natural setting where outdoor exploration is the foundation of all learning. To visit the Nature Kindergarten blog, click HERE. A PDF of the program’s pedagogical principles is HERE. For a PDF of a Globe […]
40. Take A Tree, Plant a Tree
District: No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay) A multidisciplinary innovation initiative in inquiry into sustainability in Elkford, B.C., this project involves school, regional and corporate partners led by Indigenous ecological knowledge and student learning toward “many plantings of trees in our area.” The artifacts included are pictures of theprocess of building the portable nursery for growing our […]
39. Common Ground
District: No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay) In Sparwood, sciences, social studies, and First Peoples curricula are explored together in this project with student identity, and diverse student identities, as a ‘common’ focus. Through tanning animal skins, and expanding the activity both out (into community) and in (as identity exploration), many purposes are being discovered and served […]
38. The Roy Watkins Elementary School Growth Mindset
District: No. 84 (Vancouver Island West) In Gold River, teachers at RWES are exploring, via the Spiral of Inquiry method, the engagement of ideas from a shared study in very specific considerations of their practical implications and consequences. This allow a comparative process of inquiry into the manifestations and promise of the concept of growth […]
37. The Utilization of the Flexible Timetable and Learning Centres to Maximize Learning Opportunity for Students and Staff at Osoyoos Secondary School
District: No. 53 (Okanagan-Similkameen) In Osoyoos, this project inquires into teachers’ use of innovative teaching practices to best facilitate student learning. Combining flipped classrooms and flexible timetables, interdisciplinary and cross-curricular teaching, the project takes the form of a search, with teachers seeking to “find more meaningful ways to work together” for the benefit of their […]
35. Integrated ADST: Innovative Student-Powered Implementation of Tech/Design
District: No. 8 (Kootenay Lake) Combining professional collaboration among educators, schools, students and community, this project combines multi-age learning and student pedagogical and curricular leadership and design in a shared inquiry about the incorporation of technology in science, social studies, math and computer studies curriculum. Resourcing student strengths in technology for curricular and pedagogical design […]
30. Growing with the Community in Eagle River Secondary
District: No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) From a welcome new district to Growing Innovation, this project develops and explores new forms of school/community involvement, including in public administration (through town council participation) and school/community academic partnerships.
29. MacGyver Maker Fair
District: No. 73 (Kamloops-Thompson) Involving all students within Clearwater Secondary school, along with teachers and some community members, this project investigates a wholly new format for student engagement while allowing teachers new ways to approach and develop project-based learning in communities of practice.
28. The Rocky Mountain Elementary and Elkford Secondary School Greenhouse Project
District: No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay) Students at two secondary schools collaborate in creating and maintaining a greenhouse and garden, and to investigate how students thereby come to engage healthy food choices, how school culture transforms and how relations among the schools improve as the result. Grade 2 class with a special guest learning about vermicomposting:
25. Medieval May
District: No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay) Students at Sparwood and Elkford Secondary Schools engage in the annual creation of an interdisciplinary event designed to foster community across the student body while achieving learning outcomes in creative ways.
24. Local History of the North Thompson Valley
District: No. 73 (Kamloops/Thompson) This project focuses on intergenerational learning as students at Clearwater Secondary School learn writing, speaking, video production and editing as they interview elders in the valley to capture local stories.
22. McLeod Grandparent Buddies
District: No. 91 (Nechako Lakes) Educators and seniors’ care administrators in Vanderhoof investigate buddying between grade 3 students and seniors in terms of empathy, kindness, caring, and respect and acceptance of differences. Soon to be starting collaborative work on a mural with the help of a local artist, Grade 3 and 4 students from W.L.McLeod […]
21. Intergenerational Learning
District: No. 6 (Rocky Mountain) Educators in numerous schools in the communities of Golden and Invermere investigate intergenerational learning to understand its benefits to participants, challenges for educators, related/emergent pedagogies and curricula and, by contrast, the norms of monogenerational learning sites in terms of new possibilities. These images are from the Intergenerational Learning project in […]
19. Reconciliation Through Art
District: No. 10 (Arrow Lakes) Students at Nakusp (Elementary & Secondary), Lucerne (Elementary & Secondary) and Edgewood (Elementary) schools work with Indigenous Elders and artists to build understanding about the impact of residential schools on Indigenous communities and Canada, and work towards reconciliation.
18. Community Outdoor Education
District: No. 50 (Haida Gwaii) By focusing on student interactions, community involvement and environmental learning, this project investigates effects on school culture and the larger community, and new forms of learning from year-long and school-wide outdoor education. From the Haida Gwaii project, run by Leighann Rodger, we have a nice collection of images! As part […]
15. Place-Based Learning in Mackenzie Schools
District: No. 57 (Prince George) Students in Mackenzie Schools and seniors will work together to landscape a newly constructed senior housing facility.
14. Transforming school-wide Academic Achievement
District: No. 84 (Vancouver Island West) This project will energize student learning at Zeballos Elementary Secondary School by focusing on purposeful, relevant, real-world experiences.
13. Community Revitalization
District: No. 52 (Prince Rupert) Grade 9 students at Charles Hays Secondary School will explore the theme of urban development through a community revitalization project for Prince Rupert. Here are some project related pictures – Growing Innovations Team-Charles Hays SS, Prince Rupert, BC – Carla Rourke, Raegan Sawka, Jamie Scott, Mikael Russell: Two views of […]
10. First Nations Assessment Program
Kitwanga Elementary School staff will explore the use of culturally relevant assessment and teaching strategies to more effectively support their First Nations students.
6. 21st Century Learning: PBL in the Energetic Learning Campus
District: No. 60 (Peace River North) At Fort St. John, the ELC project will look at how a healthy living environment and personal fitness affects student absenteeism, test scores, collaboration skills, student engagement and school culture. This is a video about the unique school called the Energetic Learning Campus in Fort St. John, also in […]
5. Aboriginal Academy 9
District: No. 58 (Nicola-Similkameen) Students in Merritt will participate in authentic, hands-on Aboriginal activities aimed at enriching their understanding of the local culture. View a project video on the SD 58 website HERE or on YouTube HERE. To find this district’s projects & events in aboriginal education (including the Aboriginal Academy 9 under ‘projects’), click HERE. From the Growing […]
4. Educational Food Innovations
District: No. 49 (Central Coast) Students in Bella Coola will be taught to mill their own organic flour and grains to produce a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods in a project that will encourage them to make better nutritional choices. For a powerpoint presentation about this project, click HERE.
3. Connections Project
District: No. 48 (Sea-to-Sky) At Don Ross Secondary School in Squamish, the Connections Project provides opportunities for dialogue between Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal students and the Squamish First Nations community.
