Last Saturday we kicked off an exciting professional development experience that’s being hosted here at the Calgary Science School. Over the last few years our math team has participated in a type of PD known as lesson study. Basically lesson study is a way to approach PD where teachers slowly examine and improve students’ understanding… Continue reading Sustained and Reflective PD
by Deirdre Bailey I turn around and look at the teacher I was in August and my perspectives have changed so dramatically that I have some difficulty remembering exactly what it felt like ‘before’. I remember sitting down to plan with Amy Park in August and being confused about how to allow for openness in… Continue reading A Permanent State of Re-invention
You’re invited to come learn with us! In the next month we are hosting 2 Professional Development Networking Days. The goal of these days is to bring together teachers of a particular subject to share ideas with time to plan projects for the year. Also, these days are a chance to broaden our PD networks… Continue reading Networking Days: You're Invited!
At the end of last school year, we had a few of our teachers experimenting with QR codes. We see QR codes having great potential for making student learning public – that is, using QR codes to share student work along with student self-assessments and reflections within our learning environment. You can read more about… Continue reading Making Learning Public with QR Codes
As a school community, the Calgary Science School embraces the Alberta Minister’s Inspiring Education Vision for developing students who are: Engaged Thinkers and Ethical Citizens with an Entreprenurial Spirit We strive to embed these three characteristics into the learning experiences that we create for our students. From our own school community, perhaps there is no… Continue reading Engaged, Informed and Passionate
“New media provides powerful new ways of representing and manipulating information.” This quote, taken from the paper “Confronting the Challenge of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century” by Henry Jenkins, suggests that digital tools and media afford teachers and students a variety of engaging and relevant ways to learn, create and express. With… Continue reading Remixing Worldviews
Tonight is an exciting kick off event for us! On October 5th and 6th, 2011, the Calgary Science School is hosting the Forging Connections Conference. This conference is a collaboration between teachers, art and science experts and parents with the goal of integrating art and science more authentically into the students’ learning. It will also… Continue reading Forging Connections Kickoff
We believe that one of the key elements of inquiry based learning is designing student work with an authentic and purposeful audience in mind. It’s a key piece of the inquiry rubric that we use to guide our understanding of effective inquiry-based learning. We are continually trying to find places where student work can live… Continue reading Showcasing Student Work with QR Codes
As a 1:1 school, one of our continual goals is to leverage the power of technology to support deep and intellectually rigorous work. Like many others, we believe that teaching and learning should not be about the tools, however emerging technologies, when embedded in well designed projects, can assist students in deep understanding and meaningful… Continue reading Using iMovie for Scientific Thinking
Due to our school Spring Break – this final blog post for our Inquiry Book Study is a little tardy… This book study has been an enjoyable experience for us – and we plan on running another in the Fall. Thanks so much to all our previous bloggers! February 8th: Introduction and Chapter 1 February… Continue reading Inquiry Book Study: The Final Week!
