What is PSII?

This week we had the chance to virtually explore the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry, located in downtown Victoria, British Columbia. It is a very different school than your typical public school because their idea is to focus on the actual individual and have them create what they want to learn rather than being told what to learn.

They focus on learning through innovation and inquiry, which means they do not follow the BC Curriculum. Some may see that and say “Oh no! How will the students learn or succeed in life?!”. From the short video, I believe that these students are given the ability to learn how to make a decision, how to think creatively and critically, and learn some true life skills.

Virtual Tour

After watching the video about PSII I was able to take a virtual tour through their school, and although it is during Covid, the layout looks a lot different than a public school.

There building includes:

  • A lab where they can write, type, and develop a level of independence.
  • The sensory room which allows the students an area to decompress.
  • A library, he mentioned the students’ preferred real books rather than EBooks.
  • A music room
  • An art/woodshop/kitchen room, oh yes all three! All the equipment is on wheels so it allows the students’ flexibility to mix it all together.

My personal thoughts

The idea of a school that is based on innovation and inquiry seems to be a step in the right direction. I think that there are some really good positive ways of learning that they are empowering their students that the public schools could be also doing. Although it has been a long time since I went through public school, it was all directed learning, and I left it not really knowing or understanding how to do something on my own. I thought they were missing was the physical education portion, but after looking at their website I saw they partnered up with the YMCA.

As a student becoming a teacher I think that the PSII has a lot of great qualities, and it would be great to adapt a little bit to their style of teaching and learning.

 

 

Photo by Matt Ridley on Unsplash