Growing Innovation Grants 2011-12
UPDATE:
The Growing Innovation Learning Symposium – University of British Columbia (Neville Scarfe Building) – Saturday, May 5, 2012 – 12:30-7:00 pm – Great to see so many comitted & impassioned educators discussing innovation in rural sites of learning!!
To download Pat’s presentation from March/April Elluminate sessions, please click HERE.
To download Pat’s presentation from December Elluminate sessions, please click HERE.
Visit the Growing Innovation Image Gallery HERE.
Search for Growing Innovation Tweets by searching the #growinginnovation hashtag on twitter.
The Eleanor Rix Professor of Rural Education at the UBC Faculty of Education, Dr. Linda Farr Darling and the BC Ministry of Education have announced seventeen recipients of grants in the Growing Innovation program, as well as one recipient of the Rix Merit Award. From the impressive 61 submissions received from 36 rural districts, a remarkable response to the call for applications, the following (see map below, or open on new page HERE ) were selected for their focus on students in rural communities, innovation, and potential for research.
Below we are very pleased to represent this wonderful, diverse and important work, along with a growing collection of links from the projects.
1. District: No. 8 (Kootenay Lake)
Project Title: Digital Storytelling Project
Grade 6-7 students in the Slocan Valley Family of Schools (W.E. Graham, Winlaw, Brent Kennedy and Mt. Sentinel) are engaged in digital storytelling to document local culture and family heritage through interviews with senior community members and online research.
Visit the project web site HERE.
Note: Project leaders collect student perceptions of the project via Survey Monkey, which may be found HERE.
For a student reflection video from the Digital Storytelling Project at Winlaw Elementary, click HERE.
2. District: No. 10 (Arrow Lakes)Project Title: Values of the Doukhobor Community
Project Title: Connections Project
At Don Ross Secondary School in Squamish, the Connections Project provides opportunities for dialogue between Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal students and the Squamish First Nations’ community.
Project Title: Educational Food Innovations
Students in Bella Coola will be taught to mill their own organic flour and grains to produce a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods in a project that will encourage them to make better nutritional choices.
For a powerpoint presentation about this project, click HERE.
Project Title: Aboriginal Academy 9
Students in Merritt will participate in authentic, hands-on Aboriginal activities aimed at enriching their understanding of the local culture.
View a project video HERE.
Project Title: Energetic Learning Campus (ELC)
At Fort St. John, the ELC project will look at how a healthy living environment and personal fitness affects student absenteeism, test scores, collaboration skills, student engagement and school culture.
For a PowerPoint of a project based learning template, click HERE.
Project Title: Full Day Nature Kindergarten
The district will develop a Full Day Nature Kindergarten program that provides children the opportunity to learn in a natural setting where outdoor exploration is the foundation of all learning.
To visit the Nature Kindergarten blog, click HERE.
A PDF of the program’s pedagogical principles is HERE.
For a PDF of a Globe & Mail article on this program, click HERE.
A PDF article about the program on VictoriaBoulevard.com is HERE.
Green Schools Newsletter (Feb. ’12, PDF) features this project HERE.
Project Title: Global Citizens as Renewable Energy Consumers
Students at False Bay School on Lasqueti Island will build positive understandings of renewable energy systems and social responsibility by examining local solar, micro-hydro and wind power projects with area experts.
For project-related pictures, please click HERE.
Project Title: Connecting Generations
On Salt Spring Island, Connecting Generations engages students in building bridges between generations through dialogue, intergenerational learning and relationship building.
For a summary of this project’s multifaceted work, click HERE.
For a recent item on this project in a local paper, click HERE.
For the annual report of the project’s “Building the Bridge” component of community fora, click HERE.
The project report to the Growing Innovation Symposium (PDF) may be found HERE.
For project-related pictures, click HERE.
10. District: No. 82 (Coast Mountain)
Project Title: First Nations Assessment Program
Kitwanga Elementary School staff will explore the use of culturally relevant assessment and teaching strategies to more effectively support their First Nations students.
Project Title: Collaboration without Boundaries
At Eagle View Elementary School in Port Hardy, this project will explore ways to encourage greater family participation in education through a wide range of communication tools.
Project Title: Community Partnerships
The project engages students in Midway in Community partnerships, technology, and functional curriculum to focus on ways to support rural secondary students with special needs.
A very succinct and informative presentation on this project is to be found HERE.
“UBC Research grant used to develop curriculum” – Two local newspaper articles (PDF) about this project are HERE.
The following are links to materials developed as a part of the Community Partnerships project:
Completed by students each day before working at community partner locations, the Appearance Self-Check rubric (Word doc) is HERE, and the Daily Self-Check with Icons (PDF) is HERE.
Two examples of rubrics (Word docs) completed on site while working at the locations are HERE, and HERE.
A lesson worksheet (Word doc) designed to teach students with special needs about product expiration dates is HERE.
A Community Social Skills checklist (Word doc) is HERE. Task Cards (Word doc) that students use when they work at the seniors facility are HERE.
For a list of resources/websites for mobile technology for students with special needs (Word doc compiled for this project by site facilitator Mary Stewart) click HERE.
The resource list (Word doc) for functionally differentiated curricula is HERE.
Growing Innovation Community Partnership Survey (blank – Word doc) is HERE, and the project write-up of survey results (Word doc) is HERE.
The project powerpoint presentation from the Growing Innovation Symposium is HERE.
Project Title: Community Revitalization
Grade 9 students at Charles Hays Secondary School will explore the theme of urban development through a community revitalization project for Prince Rupert.
For project-related pictures, please click HERE.
Press release: Project grade nine class ‘outside the box’ HERE.
Project Title: Transforming school-wide Academic Achievement
This project will energize student learning at Zeballos Elementary Secondary School by focusing on purposeful, relevant, real-world experiences.
15. District: No. 57 (Prince George)
Project Title: Place-Based Learning in Mackenzie Schools
Students in Mackenzie Schools and seniors will work together to landscape a newly constructed senior housing facility.
Project Title: Project Based Learning
Students at Dawson Creek Secondary School will be presented with topics for study that address real world problems with the goal of increasing learning relevance.
For a video on student engagement and project based learning at DCSS, click HERE.
To open a word doc from this project of a comprehensive “conversation” on student engagement, click HERE.
Project Title: Connected Classrooms
Elementary and secondary teachers and students in remote schools in Lytton, Ashcroft and Lillooet will be linked through daily videoconferencing.
Here are project locations represented on a map:
Questions may be directed via this site or directly to Professor Farr Darling by clicking HERE.
/spanspan style=”color: #000000;”a href=”http://www.ruralteachers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ECC_performance_stds.pdf” target=”_blank”
[...] 5 our group gathered at UBC to attend the Growing Innovation Learning Symposium to connect with and share the projects within the Rural Innovation initiative. There are amazing things happening around this province [...]