Cultivating Intellectual Agility

ICULTIVATING ntellectual Agility

– David Weinberger

These days, there’s a lot of talk about preparing students for the future, creating agile thinkers who are ready to face the unknown with confidence and creativity. The tricky part comes when we realize that – especially in this day and age – we can’t predict what that future may look like! It’s hard to develop a game plan when the playbook is changing every day.

This is where design thinking, interdisciplinary programming and the work of the I-Think Initiative come into play. Every Wednesday in the Middle School at HTS, students in Grades 7 and 8 leave traditional, course-specific education behind and spend time exploring concepts and skills from across the curriculum and beyond. By tackling complex challenges with a step-by-step integrative process, our Middle School students are quite literally relearning how to think.

It starts with a familiar concept: two heads are better than one. Or, as author David Weinberger puts it, “the smartest person in the room is the room.” Together, teachers and students in the Middle School are proving that when we rely on a multitude of perspectives, ideas and feedback, we reach better conclusions than we could come up with individually.

Banking on the knowledge that humans are natural problem solvers at heart (think of the telephone, electric cars, Uber Eats!), I-Think brands itself as a “real-world problem-solving program.” It uses entrepreneurial know-how from the Rotman School of Management to teach Middle School students to seek solutions, not as black and white concepts or “quick fixes,” but as complex, integrative models that take the best parts from many different ideas. Through consultation, empathy and creativity, our Grade 7 and 8 students are learning to tackle challenges with curiosity and collaboration. The goal of the I-Think interdisciplinary program at HTS is not to prepare our students for a particular future – but to prepare them for any future that comes their way.

Grade 7 students tried out the I-Think process for the first time by thinking about animals (a favourite subject among 12-year-olds). Their design-thinking challenge posed a question: How might we bring the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) into meaningful contact with new Canadians? This prompted many important questions about welcoming newcomers to our country, supporting vulnerable groups of people and animals, and the value and importance of giving back to the community. As Mr. John Edgecombe, one of the lead teachers in the Grade 7 group, explains, “Throughout the process, the students were given the opportunity to examine two different models that the OSPCA has been thinking about implementing, but the goal for our Grade 7 students was to come up with something even better, incorporating the positive aspects of both models into a new model.” To up the “real-world” stakes, our Grade 7 students received videos directly from the OSPCA explaining the challenge and knew that their solutions would be presented to OSPCA representatives for consideration.

When asked about her first I-Think experience, Grade 7 student Ishani Merchant says, “I liked that we were able to connect with other subjects and the assignment wasn’t just creating a presentation. The work was more enjoyable because we were able to connect with the OSPCA. When we went to the OSPCA’s website, we got to see all of the animals and could talk to the dog, which was fun.” Our students are seeing that their “out of the box” thinking and learning is authentic because it can have an impact in the real world and ultimately change lives.

In their own I-Think project, our Grade 8 students worked with Ophea (the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association) to reimagine physical education programming to promote joy in physical activity rather than solely focusing on achievement and competition. Ms Sarah Cowan, a lead teacher in the Grade 8 initiative, reports that through I-Think, “students are learning to take the best of two options to create a new, stronger solution, rather than settle on a ‘good enough’ solution. By thinking deeply about the layers embedded in a complex problem, and not simply rushing to a conclusion, they are creating stronger models in the end. It takes time, but it’s worth it.”

In each grade, the students are being asked to think differently. They are learning not to focus on “being right,” but rather to seek out opposing opinions, to value the diversity of thought, and to reflect on successes and challenges as a group. And in the end, the recipe works!

Regardless of whether Ophea changes its educational policies based on insights from our Grade 8 students, or the OSPCA selects a Grade 7 plan to bring animals to our newest neighbours, our students know their models are being considered. They see, first-hand, that careful thought yields authentic impact. And hopefully, they realize that this is only the beginning of the impact they can make in our everchanging world.

Why should our students wait until they are out of school to begin shaping their world that lies ahead?

Head of Middle School In what ways has this global pandemic accelerated the transformation of education in your area?

Students in the Middle School have been exposed to a program of integrative thinking where opposing ideas are explored and, instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, a superior model can be created. Our pandemic experience has led to a similar process, as it exposes weaknesses and opportunities in how we “do school.” It has forced us to slow down and look at academic success and student wellness as partners, not as two separate foci. There is still much work to do to ensure that academics and wellness are not at odds, but the pandemic has made it clear that blending them will change the direction of academic transformation in the Middle School.

Physical Education Faculty In what ways has your HTS experience transformed you?

As an educator, I feel I am perpetually transforming. Until this year I’ve never had the chance to teach online and in-person in tandem, and it’s been great seeing what we’ve been able to do to create belonging and community with everyone in different spaces. Our HTS community has also helped me transform my lessons, making sure, more than ever before, that they are accessible and relatable and encourage students to feel connected. Having fun while learning has always been the goal, but especially this year it is so important.

This year has made us all repeat words we are hoping we never have to hear again, like “unprecedented” and “uncertain,” though I’m afraid I’ll have to continue using both words for now. But HTS has reminded us of two new favourite words – community and belonging – and I hope everyone else has felt a new appreciation for these words, as well.