Learning Services SD#60 Peace River North

School Name: Learning Services

School District: SD#60 Peace River North

Inquiry Team Members: Barb Wagner: bwagner@prn.bc.ca

Inquiry Team Contact Email: bwagner@prn.bc.ca

Type of Inquiry: NOIIE

Grade Levels: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7)

Curricular Area(s): Mathematics / Numeracy

Focus Addressed: Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Experiential learning, First Peoples Principles of Learning, Flexible learning, Universal design for learning

In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? How transforming math lessons or units to an experience, or experiences, could lead students to conceptual understanding.

Scanning: From observations in many classrooms in all schools in our district, it became clear to me that many of our students are disengaged, lack perseverance, franchise or choice, and were not active with the First Peoples Principles of Learning — particularly the principle that ‘learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential and relational’, as well as the principle that ‘learning involves patience and time’.

Focus: Students want to learn. I was hoping that engaging learners in experiences where they have choice and agency would lead to students building their own understanding of math concepts.

Hunch: Schools tend to have a tight focus on content, skills and processes, at the expense of conceptual understanding. Perhaps this comes about from our own experiences in education, as well as not having the conceptual understanding ourselves which leads to a fear of exposing our own vulnerabilities.

New Professional Learning: I attended a workshop around the book “Pop-Up Studio” by Misty Patterson and Janice Novakowski, read “Transitioning to Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction” and “Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom” by Erickson, Lanning and French. I spent time following BC people on Twitter who work with Reggio-inspired instruction.

Taking Action: I put together a presentation to try and convince administration to support a Concept Studio in this district. I also developed several lesson sequences to try out in “The Studio” .

Checking: I have not had the opportunity to try out any lessons with students due to COVID-19, but I have convinced the district to support the idea!

Reflections/Advice: Next year, I want to involve other people with “The Studio”. I also want to develop more ‘lessons’ or ‘experiences’ to try out with classes.

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