Experiential Education: Evidence of Learning

Scholar-Educators in the Seven Oaks School Division Post Baccalaureate Degree Programme in Inquiry at the Seven Oaks School Division Aki Centre — the Division’s land-based learning centre.

This past term, twenty scholar-educators came together every Tuesday evening to think deeply about teaching and learning, about what we mean by an educative experience, and about the numerous false dichotomies that plague educational discourse. The Topics in Experiential Education course offered by the Seven Oaks School Division and the University of Winnipeg Post Baccalaureate Degree Programme is an opportunity to dive into what it means to teach and learn and to put our design and assessor hats on.

We will be launching the third PBDE in Inquiry Cohort in Fall 2022.

Below are the final reflections of some of the scholar-educators:

Deeper Learning Lab Podcast

The Seven Oaks School Division Post Baccalaureate Cohort in Inquiry is currently engaged in a course entitled Project-based Learning Theory. In the fall, the group completed Topics in Experiential Education, and as such, have a firm foundational understanding of experience and design. In PBL theory, we have been exploring PBL as a container for deeper learning. You can check out the podcast below to see how our thinking is taking shape. (We will be adding podcasts every few days.)

Episode 1 — Collaboration is the Key

Episode 2 — Distilling PBL

Episode 3 — PBL in the Early Years

Episode 4 – PBL & Secondary Maths

Episode 5 — The Laminating Room

Episode 6 — PBL and Inclusion

Catch a Fire: Fuelling Inquiry & Passion through Project-based Learning

A group of passionate educators came together to create this book. We hope that your PLN or team can make use of our stories. You can grab copies from the fine folks at Portage & Main Press

PBL: Deep Dive into Structured Inquiry

Between January and April, educators throughout Manitoba came together every Tuesday to think deeply about heavy concepts (like experience, engagement, learning, and teaching), to think and reflect on our intentional design, and to think deeply about our learners, their families and our communities.

As part of our work, we decided to engage in a project ourselves. That is doing work that has meaning for us and allows to make meaning. As such, we created an eBook which speaks to our professional inquiry. As we explored the literature and interrogated our practice, problems and questions surfaced related to project-based learning.

We are pleased to offer our questions, our reflections, and our designs: Project-based Learning: A Deep Dive into Structure Inquiry.

School Suspension Projects

This photo is from Dave Law’s class — an advisor at the Seven Oaks Met School. Dave was a guest speaker during our third class, where he spoke about interdisciplinary projects.

The crew in my University of Winnipeg Faculty of education Project-Based Learning Applied class created projects for the school suspension period. As teachers, we were devastated that the sense of community we had created in our classrooms might be severed, so we took our theory on intentional design that is geared towards fostering curiosity, inquiry, and community and created these experiences to share with all teachers.

Book of Awesome — Ashleigh

Ecological Footprints — Kylie & Sherry

Educational Assistant Project Plan — Natalie

Passion Projects — Alberta & Laura

Creating Graphic Novels in an EAL Class — Samineh

Mental Well-being — Diana & Christine

You are what you Eat — Jenna

MIMW — Kate

Covid19 Journal — Vanessa

Quaruntunes — Aubrey

Community Improvement — Wes

Virus to Pandemic — Janine

Our World is Beautiful — Soofia

Genius Hour — Amber-Lee

Walking Together — Alyssa

The Wellness Project — Lisa

Heroes of the Earth — Balrajdeep