Curious Kids Project Based Learning (PBL) has been one
Avenue or may be of a more global nature. Once the specific question has been chosen, the students research the subject, present their findings to their classmates, continue to research their chosen solution and then, utilizing self-reflection, peer and teacher feedback, refine their conclusion before sharing it with the community. Some of the Driving Questions that have recently been investigated at SCS have included:
such advancement and has been utilized at St. Clement’s School. Its most recent iteration is Curious Kids: a Junior School program held on Wednesdays and introduced at the start of this school year. As with all PBL teaching methods, Curious Kids provides students with an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills through a program that interests them, enables them to work within a group to solve a problem or a challenge, and provides them
with the time to create a public product that they can then share with others in the SCS community and beyond. The cornerstone of the success of Curious Kids is the selection of a problem or challenge that has sufficient scope for proper investigation and enough interest to fully engage the students and give them the drive to see it through to its conclusion. These driving questions can pertain to issues primarily of concern within the walls of 21 St. Clements
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How can we, as a healthy living group, help people find sports that make them happy and healthy, for the SCS Junior School?
How can we, as environmentalists, spread awareness of the overuse of paper in art to help protect the environment?
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How can we, as health experts, help Senior School students heading off to university to stay healthy during their first year?
How can we, as singersongwriters, learn the steps of composing a song for an audience, for our own curiosity, for our enjoyment, and for the enjoyment of the Junior School?
How can we, as scientists, raise awareness about the problems pollution creates and convince others to stop polluting our environment?
Curious Kids meets for one hour each week during the Wednesday Flextime period. Students are divided into groups of 10-12 students, by their specific interests and in grade pairs with Grades 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6 together. The response to Curious Kids has been overwhelmingly positive, with many students expressing enjoyment at conducting research, working together with their classmates and students from other grades, and presenting their findings to a larger audience. Red Blazer Spring 2019 | 13