In april 2015, the Inquiry Hub won the Ken Spencer award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, and our school received $7,000.
(above) Nicole, Sophia, Hannah, Shauna, Liam, and Owen at the Ken Spencer Award ceremony. We prepared all of the food!
Our teachers decided to give the students a say in deciding where the money should go, so all students had the oppritunity to give a presentation about something they wanted for the school, making it so that the students could apply for money like a grant. The ideas needed to be things that there was a shared interest in, could enrich our learning, and that would bennefit students for a long time. We applyed for the creation of a kitchen unit. The idea was, that it would allow students to expand their learning, allow teachers to have another tool to help teach, and would be an optimal kitchen workstation. Here is a copy of the Kitchen unit Proposal. Our idea was fully funded!
We purchased our supplies at Bed Bath and Beyond, and the most difficult part was trying to get everything we wanted while still keeping it within our budget. Our bill came out $22 under budget, giving us a little bit to spend for some extras. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough funding to buy any portable electric burners, so for now we will need to make do until we find a way to fund them.
(above) Hannah, Sophia, Nicole, and Shauna buying kitchen supplies.
Now we have our actual kitchen unit, and we’ve used it a few times–it works really well! The following are some pictures of Nicole and I making baccon seafood carbonara for our friends. I’ve started cooking for my friends about once a week, and the kitchen unit is proving to be great for doing things like this!.
~Shauna