For my #edci336 class we recently went to the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry. They have a very open style of learning where students delve deeply into subjects of their choosing picking up real world skills along the way. There were several things that I took away from this experience.
How PSII does evaluation is awesome. They do not grade based on a number or percentage. They mark based whether or not a student has demonstrated competency in a certain area. I love this method because it allows for the evolutionary nature of learning. We all make mistakes early on in our education, why should we be penalized for those mistakes in a final grade. If by the end of a course a student has demonstrated a satisfactory level of “mastery” then they pass the course. This is simple and does not discourage failure in the early stages of learning.
The inquiry approach allows for students to immerse themselves into what they are interested in. They get to gain an appreciation for all the nuances and multiple disciplines that can go into their area of passion. That said having open ended tasks is not what students face in the real world. Although Jeff Hopkins, the schools principal and founder, said that in the real the work place workers are given more open ended work and current education does not line up with that, this has not been my experience. At every job I have ever had I have been asked to complete a task, with specific parameters and instructions. Sometimes I have had an idea that I thought would be useful and implemented it, but those moments are rare.
One thing that I find interesting is PSII’s use of technology for monitoring student progress. Trello is a task management program that is used to great effect at PSII. Teachers are able to see what students are working on, what they are planning to work on and what they have completed. Although there’re other, lower tech, means to achieve this, Trello seems like a great tool not just for education.
Another aspect of inquiry learning at PSII that is lacking is the concept of deadlines. Students seem to be given free reign and only need to demonstrate progress and not a finished product by a certain time. This, again, in my opinion is not preparing the students for the real world where deadlines and structure abound.
This is not to say inquiry doesn’t have its place but it seems that PSII throws the baby out with the bathwater on traditional education. Historically education is full of flaws and they need to be addressed. PSII is a great experiment and a school that needs to exist for certain types of learners, there was a discussion about autistic learners and how inquiry can work well for them. The problem is that while PSII’s model works for the majority of students that attend will it work for the rest of the students?