Our visit to Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry was inspiring. Although we had all watched Jeff Hopkins’ TedTalk, Education if people mattered, visiting the school and seeing how all the students went about their day was eye-opening. I was surprised that the space was so small and that the “classrooms” were so tiny, but after Jeff explained that classes only really occur as specialized workshops for students who need it, it made a lot more sense. Most students were just hanging out in their common room working on their own projects but also socializing in small amounts with their friends. The amount of autonomy given to these high school students was incredible, they seemed to thrive in it.
Although I am familiar with inquiry, PSII’s style was next level! I have to admit I was pretty jealous of the students and the level of agency that they had developed through this process.
In his talk, Jeff mentioned a number of good resources for inquiry based teaching. Here are a few that I hope to look into:
Leave a Reply