GUILDFORD - Surrey's Fraser Heights Secondary has been shortlisted for a national award honouring school and classroom innovation.
Joining 14 others on the shortlist, Fraser Heights is in the running to win the Canadian Education Association's Ken Spencer Award for Innovation.The winning school will receive a profile in Education Canada magazine and will be featured nationwide in educational videos on peer-to-peer learning. Additionally, the schools judged to be leading the way in innovation will also receive cash prizes.Areas identified by the school for innovation include questioning, problem solving, critical thinking and developing ideas and applying those ideas to real world situations.To do this, Fraser Heights has adopted a new learning approach, focusing more on inquiry-based learning that allows students more independence in operating their own research projects.Also aiding the school is a recent innovation grant by the Ministry of Education that has enabled the school to adopt 10 new programs fostering innovation.Those programs include allowing Grade 8 and 9 students to create their own curriculum in a way that fosters their educational curiosity as well as "meet and eat" sessions between teachers to share potential innovative learning techniques."We have transformed education at Fraser Heights Secondary and we are leading the way in transforming student learning and educational practice," principal Sheila Morissette wrote in the school's application.If the school ends up winning the award, there are plans to open a "maker space and design studio" to allow for students to make their designs into reality.A winner is expected to be announced by the end of the month.cpoon@thenownewspaper.com