Supporting Innovation and Inquiry in Education
Jeff Hopkins, founder and co-principle of the pacific school of innovation and inquiry, discussed the value of creating a school that teaches in a zone of proximal development. As shown on the image below, this is different for each individual as their current knowledge and experience may differ from their classmates. This is why Hopkins has developed a school that deals with each student individually, allowing each to gain the most from their education.
Differing from the traditional school, the pacific school of innovation and inquiry uses an emergent/personal curriculum. This means that the wants and needs of the learners appears in the teachings. The school/classrooms are also visually quite different from other high schools. The students are given autonomy of the atmosphere they want to learn in, rather than moving from class to class sitting in desks facing the front of the room. Lastly, assessment is done quite differently. Throughout the semester students are asked to come up with a main question, based on something they are interested in, then research to find out more. Once they gather enough information they are to come up with another questions then develop and execute a learning activity based on their previous research. Rather than just marking the final product, assessment is done throughout the stages of the project allowing students to shift their work and continuously improve throughout.