Recently, I was able to visit the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry (PSII) with on a field trip with my EdTech class. PSII is a secondary school located in the downtown area of Victoria. It offers its students a unique method of inquiry-based learning. Students at PSII do not attend any regular classes, and are said to navigate through the curriculum solely by the completion of large, in-depth inquiry projects. Teachers at the school are there to help guide students along their inquiries. Please feel free to read up on their website to learn more about the specifics of the school. Also, check out this TED talk by Jeff Hopkins, the founder and principal of PSII.
I have to admit, I have been very skeptical of the inquiry-based learning model that seems to be held in such high regard by some educators, but my time at PSII helped me overcome some of my misconceptions and apprehension.
During my time in school, I always felt like my needs were catered to. Because of this, I think it is particularly difficult for me to embrace new teaching and learning styles. However, I understand many people were not as lucky to have the same great teachers I did, and therefore had a far different experience in traditional schooling. Since coming to the PDP Program at UVic, I have been somewhat struggling to fully grasp how an inquiry-based approach to learning stacked up against more traditional methods. I was very interested to visit PSII and see inquiry in action.
The school itself is not large, but the total number of students and staff is also quite low, and so it did not feel overly crowded. The largest space was a common area for students to work, interact, and spend their day however they see fit. The principle, Jeff Hopkins, gave us a short presentation about how PSII operates. Again, feel free to look at the website for more specifics, but there were a few things that I personally found very interesting and I would like to share. Firstly, Jeff mentioned that from this inquiry-based learning, students who went on to university did not seem to fare any worse than students from a traditional background – in fact, most of the students excelled in a post-secondary setting. Secondly, he explained that while many students were hesitant about inquiry in the beginning, within a few months students would typically be fully engaged with this style of learning. Finally, he explained that it was necessary for teachers to help guide and direct inquiries in order to have students cover all aspects of the BC curriculum. At any given point, he said, students would have a number of inquiry projects going.
After my visit to PSII, I can definitely say that my eyes have been opened towards inquiry-based learning. Am I 100% convinced it is the best way to teach and learn? No. However, I am looking forward to keeping an open mind towards it, and I am excited to see how it develops in the future.
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