-by Carolyn Armstrong When we, my teaching partner Candice Shaw and I, began to plan our “Evidence and Investigation Unit” we thought it would be fun to do it around a crime scene. We used the GEM: “Mystery Festival” to quick-start our story. From there we took artistic license to create our own series of… Continue reading Grade 6 Science: Evidence and Investigation
-by Kevin Sonico “Show me your ‘thinking’.” “Explain your process.” These are two statements that are often used to encourage students to communicate their strategies in solving a word problem. In my experience, what is often produced, written, and described are algorithms, equations, and other symbolic representations. Rarely have students submitted strategies that comprised of… Continue reading Action Research: The Model Method in Solving Word Problems
-by Lisa Nelson, Dan McWilliam and Jody Pereverzoff, Grade 7 Teachers Near the start of this year, our Grade 7 team began a research project about using iPads in the classroom: Through a variety of sub-questions, we hoped to address the larger question, “Where do iPads fit in Education?” Using real projects, student exemplars, and… Continue reading Where do iPads fit? A Reflection…
by Deirdre Bailey, I work at an innovative and creative institution. Perhaps it is because of the freedom we have to explore possibilities that we are often unaware of the depth to many of the simplest resources that are available. It is also without a doubt hard to be constantly adapting one’s practice to ever-updating technology… Continue reading Google just keeps killing it.
-by Donna Alden, Teacher Librarian It seems to me there is no one answer. For nonfiction, research activities, if given the choice, hands down I’ll choose an online search for information, as opposed to searching through books. Is that an exclusive choice? Do I always recommend that to students? No, and no. But as a… Continue reading E-Books or "Real" Books?
-by Candice Shaw, Grade 6 Math/Science In the Grade 6 curricula, there are many opportunities for meaningful integration between subjects. The Sky Science unit and Large Number topics fit harmoniously together. With a focus on problem solving, students first went about solving a variety of astronomy themed problems, such as “How many times further is… Continue reading Big Numbers and Sky Science: Grade 6 Math/Science Integration
-by Dave Scott, Grade 8 Humanities This year one of the goals of the Grade 8 team was to undertake an interdisciplinary unit that brought together the four core subject areas of math, science, language arts, and social studies. With the aid of Erin Couillard, PD and outreach coordinator, after an afternoon planning session seeking… Continue reading Thoughts and Viruses Interdisciplinary Inquiry Unit
-by Dean Schmeichel, Phys. Ed Teacher This is my final blog for the Research project – Video Assessment in PE. This was an extremely worthwhile project and it has shaped the future course of assessment for me in my career. From past experience, I know that I will continue to develop, adapt and modify this… Continue reading Video Assessment in Phys. Ed – A Reflection
–Jody Pereverzoff grade 7 Humanities After reading Lisa Nelson’s blog on using ShowMe in the Math class, I thought it would be a successful tool for students to demonstrate their understanding of editorial cartoons. Students first read the short story “Back to our Roots” by Fernando Sorrentino (translated from Spanish by Iris Maria Mielonen) and… Continue reading Using ShowMe in the Humanities Classroom
-by Tanya Stogre, Grade 5 Humanities In the preceding three blogs, I have outlined the research behind why parental and community engagement is important; the differences between ‘involvement’ and ‘engagement’, as well as specific examples of each at the Calgary Science School. In the final blog of the series, I want to look at the… Continue reading Parent Engagement: Where to from here?
