Engaging students’ imaginations & emotions to explore the world.

(Source: Canada Foundation For Innovation)

School can be boring, but it doesn’t have to be. Kieran Egan, founder of the Imaginative Education Research Group, talks with third grader Ashley Srdanovic about her portfolio on bees. He and his fellow researchers at Simon Fraser University are working on finding ways in which teachers can engage students’ imaginations and emotions in learning. One of their programs, Learning in Depth, begins with a ceremony in which each child is given a topic — birds or apples or whales, for example. Students then spend about an hour a week for the rest of their schooling building portfolios on their topics. By the time each student finishes high school, she or he is an expert on something.

By Jodi Di Menna

Canada Foundation for Innovation | Fondation canadienne pour l’innovation 613-996-4403 | [email protected]

>> Image credit: Joeri Cant