Author Lewis Carroll鈥檚 颅skepticism about the range and purposes of 鈥渞egular鈥� 颅education, as expressed through his 1865 classic Alice鈥檚 Adventures in Wonderland, spoke volumes about the limits of public 颅education of the time.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 afford to learn it,鈥� said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. 鈥淚 only took the regular course.鈥�
鈥淲hat was that?鈥� inquired Alice.
鈥淩eeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,鈥� the Mock Turtle replied: 鈥渁nd then the 颅different branches of Arithmetic 鈥� Ambition, Distraction, 颅Uglification, and Derision.鈥�
Until late in the 20th century, public education tended to 颅function on the basics as Carroll鈥檚 Mock Turtle claimed.
Innovation and public education were not words commonly found in the same sentence.
But now, thanks to 颅imaginative teachers and 颅politically 颅courageous 颅administrators and school trustees, that has changed in 2021.
Across sa国际传媒, innovative schools have begun to find ways, while maintaining the 颅importance of the 鈥渂asics,鈥� to focus curriculum on the颅 颅application of the essentials of learning to real-world projects.
Take, for example, the Farm Roots Mini School in the Delta school district. Farm Roots is an
innovative school that directly links students to the 颅multi-layered agricultural 颅industry.
While earning dual credits toward high school graduation and graduation from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, students learn how to design, plan and maintain a 鈥渓earning farm鈥� set on eight acres.
Then there is the Art in 颅Science Project at Vanier 颅College in the Montreal 颅borough of Saint-Laurent, which is designed around the idea of 颅science pedagogy expressed artistically.
While traditional science courses rely on lectures and exercise drills to help 颅students memorize complex facts and procedures, the Art in 颅Science Project challenges students to portray scientific concepts through visual arts, music, 颅videos and computer 颅simulations.
A curriculum that focuses on immediate eco-problems drives the Pollinator Inquiry 颅Program at Tredway Woodsworth 颅elementary school in Toronto.
The program began as an inquiry-based project on the role of bees within the ecosystem and has since expanded into a 颅three-year, school-wide 颅initiative that empowers students to understand the imminent crisis of bee extinction.
Students in grades 2-8 at Tredway Woodsworth engage in hands-on learning designed to illustrate the drastic effects of insecticide use on bee 颅populations.
At the Seven Oaks School Division in Winnipeg, Man., 颅innovation and 颅entrepreneurship are key components at the award-winning grades 9-12 Maples Met Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurship.
The MICE program provides learners with internships with local entrepreneurial mentors, whereby students design their own start-ups that cater to real clients.
Closer to home, the 颅Robert Bateman 颅Secondary Art 颅Activism program in 颅Abbotsford enables students to blend art, English and social 颅justice curricula and take a stand on social issues of importance to their community.
At the Chief Paul 颅Niditchie School at Tsiigehtchic, 颅Northwest Territories, students from kindergarten to Grade 9 take culture-based programs that align with the seasonal activities of the Gwich鈥檡a Gwich鈥檌n people.
Learning moves from the school鈥檚 indoor classrooms to land-based education on the traditional fishing, hunting and trapping grounds surrounding the community.
The curriculum, grounded in the ways of knowing, doing and being of the Gwich鈥檡a Gwich鈥檌n people, has been characterized as 鈥渞econciliation in action.鈥�
The Max Aitken Academy (Anglophone North School 颅District) at Miramichi, N.B. breaks the mould of traditional education by rearranging the traditional teaching schedule in order to set aside a weekly 颅鈥淧roject Period鈥� time.
The Project Periods allows Grade 6 students to fully engage with personalized learning 颅projects, which have included mock election campaigns, 颅inventors鈥� workshops and a young entrepreneurs鈥� holiday market.
The curriculum provides real-world, hands-on learning experiences by rearranging the traditional teaching schedule and evaluation methodology to accommodate the approach.
At Milton District High School in Milton, Ont., 颅teachers team up to deliver 颅Integrative Thinking 鈥� a method for 颅guiding classroom conversations and projects 鈥� with a focus on 颅scientific discovery.
Students tackle problems ranging from access to clean water to invasive species, how to maintain biodiversity and 颅beautifying the school campus in ecologically sound ways. Learning is then shared through student-led exhibitions that 颅demonstrate an innovative approach to problem-solving.
Even an imagination like Lewis Carroll鈥檚 could not have foreseen how, in 2021, this 颅combination of creativity and political courage on the part of educational leaders could move public education beyond 颅reading, writing and arithmetic in the classroom and out into the real world 鈥� without compromising the essentials.
Geoff Johnson is a former 颅superintendent of schools.
