By Patricia Nameth, Director of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment, Fort McMurray Catholic Schools

The integration of project-based learning is thriving in Fort McMurray Catholic Schools.  Following an engaging session with Warren Woytuck (Tools Not Lightbulbs: Nurturing Creativity), teachers at various schools began to identify areas of practice that could be transformed from traditional methods to project-based learning.  This excitement about project-based learning began to spread across the district, with thirty-five first-year teachers receiving professional development on PBL from individuals who attended the Woytuck session.  Furthermore, teachers brought great insight back to their Professional Learning Community and began the legwork to build new and exciting PBL experiences.

These important conversations morphed into the development of the “Wiring a House” project that saw cross-grade collaboration between 60 grade 9 students at our high school and 225 grade 5 students from our feeder elementary schools.  As principles of electricity and parallel/series circuits are present in both Grade 9 and Grade 5 science programs, teachers saw a unique opportunity to allow the Grade 9 students act as mentors and facilitators for the Grade 5s.  Teams were given a cardboard box, wire, light bulbs, and other materials and were tasked to build a house that was wired such that four lights were operational.  The project proved to be a wonderful learning experience for our students, and teachers have begun discussing ways to bring other disciplines (art, social studies) into the project for the next school year.