I. General Information
School Name: Bamfield Community School
School District: SD#70 Pacific Rim
Inquiry Team Members: Robin Schmitt: rschmitt@sd70.bc.ca
Julie Bradley: jbradley@sd70.bc.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: rschmitt@sd70.bc.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7), Secondary (8-12)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Applied Design, skills & Technology, Arts Education, Career Education, Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Reading
Focus Addressed: Literacy, Core competencies (for example, thinking, communication, personal and social)
In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Our focus was to transform our library into a student-centered Learning Commons that fosters literacy, student ownership, belonging, and the inclusion of local Indigenous perspectives.
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Scanning: We began our scanning process by observing how students were using the library and having informal conversations with them about the space. We used the questions “What is going on for our learners?” and “How do we know?” by looking at patterns of use and listening to student voice. We noticed that older students were not regularly engaging with the library, and that some parts of the collection, particularly Indigenous resources, were outdated and not very visible. Students shared that they wanted more welcoming, flexible spaces with opportunities for creativity, collaboration, and hands-on learning. The First Peoples Principles of Learning helped guide our thinking, especially around identity, belonging, and learning connected to community and place.
Focus: We chose to focus on transforming our library into a more engaging, student-centered Learning Commons because student engagement was low, especially among older students. We wanted to create a space that students felt more connected to and responsible for. Our goal was to increase engagement, strengthen literacy, and build a stronger sense of belonging by creating a space that better reflects student voice and local Indigenous perspectives.
Hunch: We felt that part of the issue was that the library space had become more passive than interactive, with limited student input into how it was organized or used. We also suspected that outdated or less visible collections, including Indigenous resources, may have contributed to lower engagement. Another hunch was that students needed more ownership and opportunities to actively shape the space in order to feel connected to it.
New Professional Learning: Our learning focused on how to create a more student-centered Learning Commons and how to better reflect Indigenous perspectives and student identity within a school space. We explored ways to organize and redesign the library to support engagement, including student leadership structures and cross-curricular connections. Helpful resources included collaboration with colleagues, student voice, and ongoing reflection on how the space was being used. We also drew on the Spiral of Inquiry framework and the First Peoples Principles of Learning to guide our thinking.
Taking Action: We began reorganizing, sorting, and labeling sections of the library to make the space more accessible and engaging. Students participated in creating a mural, designing and planning new sections of the Learning Commons, and contributing ideas for spaces such as a Makerspace, puzzles and games area, and beginning to explore an updated Indigenous and local knowledge section. We also introduced the Tower of Books reading challenge to encourage literacy engagement and student reflection. Students contributed through leadership roles, media design, literacy tasks, and hands-on organization of the space.
Checking: We are beginning to see positive changes in student engagement and ownership of the space. More students are actively participating in organizing, designing, and using the Learning Commons. Evidence of change includes student involvement in the mural, participation in literacy activities like the Tower of Books challenge, and greater interest in helping shape the space. While the project is still in progress, we are encouraged by the early shifts in student attitude and engagement.
Reflections/Advice: This inquiry has shown us that even small changes to a learning space can increase student engagement when students are given voice and ownership. We are still in the early stages of transforming the Learning Commons, but we have already seen stronger connection, interest, and participation from students. Next steps include continuing to develop the Indigenous and local knowledge section, completing student-led projects like the mural, and expanding student involvement in shaping the space. For other schools, we would recommend starting small, listening closely to students, and allowing the space to evolve over time rather than trying to fully redesign everything at once.