LETS BEGIN BRIEFLY WITH A LOADED

STATEMENT

“It is clear that if creativity and innovation are going to contribute to

human and environmental health and well-being, then formal education
must convey values and knowledge related to sustainability”.
- O’Brien (2016, p.64)

Photo credit: Diego PH https://unsplash.com/photos/fIq0tET6llw

THE PROBLEM
We’ve all watched enough videos,
viewed enough comics, and listened to
enough podcasts to know the perils of
standardized tests. That is a problem, to
be sure. But here’s an even bigger one.
The image on the right is the first non-
bricks and mortar image that pops up
on Google Image when searching,
“school”. It happens to be in Sweden,
but I doubt you would have guessed.

This looks like so many classrooms.

Where is the choice? Where is the
collaboration? Where is the ownership?
Where is evidence of noteworthy
creativity and self-direction? Photo credit: The Local se https://www.thelocal.se/20171005/these-are-the-best-areas-for-schools-in-sweden
SOLUTION #1
Invest a great deal of time and effort into invigorating
our wildly underused Makerspace! I will go through a
means of integrating a math class, with a few other
suggestions, and identify the rationale and benefits.

Photo credit: Josh Coleman https://unsplash.com/photos/uB16HY_ah4o/info

SOLUTION #2
Utilize Google Classroom and digital curation mediums which we are
already setup for! A pilot project of how to properly utilize Google
Classroom and the digital platform as more than just a place to post
important dates and course notes that will be discussed.

Photo credit: Ialo Hernandez https://unsplash.com/photos/SYPm1x95IrY

BACK TO THE MAKERSPACE…
THIS IS WHERE IT STARTED…

St. Paul’s Collegiate (SPC) has for a

while been involved with some of
Skills Canada’s programs, if not
consistently with their competitions.
 SKILLS CANADA
CHALLENGES

Preparing for competitions, such as building and testing model wind turbines, and
prototyping cardboard boats was difficult for the former, and impossible for the
latter. This presented some challenges, that simply required a physical space. This
was the nebula from which a creative commons was born. Interestingly, these are all
extracurricular projects, that students voluntarily gave up their time to design,
prototype, test, analyze and refine, which reads just like a creativity outline. Not one
mark was given for any involvement.
 A BRIEF HISTORY
A colleague and I clamored for a Makerspace in
2018, that we opted to call the IDEA Lab, or
Innovation, Design, Engineering and Art Lab, as
it seemed to us to be more inclusive. The idea of
a Makerspace was not well-known, and given the
involvement of my colleague and I, the two
individuals who teach all the Grade 11 and 12
physics, chemistry, biology, pre-calculus and
applied math courses, it was assumed by many
that a Makerspace was merely an extension of
the science classroom. This challenge continues,
but my aim is to change that perspective, by
encouraging all teachers to see the advantage of
reshaping what we do through a creative lens by
being encouraging and establishing an exemplar.
WHY AN IDEA LAB?
I’ve come to spend a good deal of time railing against the industrial education model. The SPC IDEA Lab is a manifestation
of one way to fight against that very model.
“At some level, maker education is a grassroots reaction against one-size-fits-all education designed for mass
warehouse-style instruction”.
- Kurti, Kurti and Fleming (2014a, p.9)

“Maker education is a branch of constructivist philosophy that views learning as a highly personal endeavor
requiring the student, rather than the teacher, to initiate the learning process”.
- Kurti et al. (2014a, p.8)

“Makerspaces can be the physical embodiment of multidisciplinary approaches”.

- Davee, Regalla and Chang (2015, p.10)

All Makerspaces are really at their core a melting pot of different subject areas. They function to re-centralize learning,
which has been knocked off of its axis in the industrial age.
THREE RULES OF THE IDEA LAB
•PLAY
•PASSION
•PURPOSE
 HOW TO USE IT:
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING AS A STAPLE
OF MATH 10F EDUCATION
Quick, you have to decide! You are going to spend half
of the class with one of the two items pictured to the
right. Which one do you choose?

“Focusing on [Creative Problem Solving] and

teaching it as a skill, followed by reinforcing this
skill throughout the different units during the
semester, can be an invaluable asset to the students’
functioning in school”.
- Pepkin (2000, p.1)

Photo credit: Rick Mason https://unsplash.com/photos/2FaCKyEEtis

Photo credit: Chris Liverani https://unsplash.com/photos/ViEBSoZH6M4
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLIVNG AS A STAPLE
OF MATH 10F EDUCATION
The previous quote was highly relevant to me as a Gr. 9 math teacher. I have been part of a math
development program (Brake, 2019) which was about improving math competencies. While I really liked
it, creative problem solving was something introduced at or near the very end of eight, full-day
professional development sessions, with the intent on putting at end of a year’s programming. This was a
cross-Canada initiative for participating school divisions. This would also be completely antithetical to
bringing the creative process to mathematics. I can still honour the program, while introducing problem
solving immediately into previous concept review in September and building it out throughout the year
so that students use math in a more multifaceted way, more regularly then the simple problem of the week
that I used before. It’s a simple solution with the potential for substantial learning gains, which in a time
limited environment is very helpful. So how does this connect to the IDEA Lab?
EXAMPLE USE OF IDEA LAB WITH MATH 10F
Math 10F is now a double block course. The additional time is in part to go through course concepts, but it is also an
outstanding opportunity to take popular comments that I hear on start up in September, such as, “I hate math”, or the sad
groans that post-cede the bell indicating that it is time to be numerate. I like to use Friday’s math class as Fun Math Fridays,
which in the past included a money fair project, and will now be re-branded and re-packaged as IDEA Lab Fridays. Students
will have time to play board games, work with manipulatives and certainly develop inquiry projects.
On IDEA Lab Fridays in math one of the principles that I need to keep in mind, and that I am often guilty of, is outwardly
identifying beast mode questions. While perhaps motivating for students who fancy themselves high performing math
students, I have my reservations now of its efficacy. When it came to students during an experiment:
“Not knowing that [they were not] expected to solve the problem freed the student from any self-perceived limitations
and allowed [them] to apply maximum effort”.
- Pepkin (2000, p.1)

Remembering not to put parameters on things, and simply letting students be to exercise their creative freedom is critical.

Photo credit: JESHOOTS.COM https://unsplash.com/photos/fzOITuS1DIQ

EXAMPLE USE OF IDEA LAB WITH MATH 10F
One thing I have always wanted to do, which I have structured for next year is to have groups of my
students create math learning activities and games for Grade 5 students at one of our feeder schools.
Student groups would be responsible for:
 Identifying which Gr. 5 outcomes the games encompass
 Designing all aspects of the games, including any pieces if necessary
 Engaging Gr. 5 students, and helping them discover or reaffirm math concepts
 Develop a feedback system that includes themselves, the Gr. 5 students, myself and the Gr. 5 teacher
HOW WOULD THE IDEA LAB FUNCTION AS A
SPACE?
“The students were not strong-armed into using the
space. Rather, they were coaxed by means of
strategically placed tools”.
- Kurti (2014c, p.22)

This statement suggests that IDEA Lab Fridays for

example, while taking place in the IDEA Lab, should not
have a scripted outcome. Details can just be minimal and
students can be left to tackle it all on occasion at the
discretion of their own whimsy. It’s a novel approach to Photo credit: Alice Achterhof https://unsplash.com/photos/FwF_fKj5tBo
education that asks all teachers to become multipliers on
the side.
INVOLVING OTHER CLASSES
The aesthetic is often overlooked in education (Jackson, &
McCullagh, 2015), and is considered one of three key pillars
in any Makerspace (Kurti et al., 2014b). This provides an
outstanding opportunity to bring in the art and industrial arts
programs to put their stamp on the space. Currently our space
is a blank beige canvas, waiting for anybody to animate it.

Photo credit: Kelly Sikkema https://unsplash.com/photos/ZsvuETrThX8

 BENEFITS FROM THE IDEA LAB?
“The most important benefits of maker-centered
learning are neither STEM skills nor technical
preparation for the next industrial revolution...the most
salient benefits of maker-centered learning for young
people have to do with developing a sense of self and a
sense of community that empower them to engage with
and shape the designed dimension of their worlds”.
- Davee, Regalla and Chang (2015, p.7)

All of a sudden this is beginning to sound more like the

opening, complex statement that we started with. The IDEA
Lab is a tool in a well-being for all effort. Photo credit: “My Life Through A Lens” https://unsplash.com/photos/bq31L0jQAjU
 BENEFITS FROM THE IDEA LAB?
It is important not to think about the IDEA Lab as a
panacea. It is not a solution to a career crisis, or the pipeline
through which the waters of a prosperous tomorrow flow. In
fact, it is about developing well-rounded, problem-solving,
creative people. Where things go from there is a matter of
debate, but in a world valuing heuristic roles with increasing
frivolity, it would appear to operate in a way that is multi-
faceted and modern. It represents a leap out of the Industrial
Age. That’s what I want to help lead here at SPC.

Photo credit: Diggity Marketing https://unsplash.com/photos/QFZ_72_NxIQ

COLLABORATE!
I’ve looked at a means of integrating the IDEA Lab and math education,
which often seems to be curiously absent from the creative discourse. The
arts unquestionably lend themselves better in my opinion, and this is
precisely why the space is not a math or science space. It can be booked
out like we book out Chromebook carts. With each successive class that
uses the space, the greater the opportunities for student specialists to take
root and collaborative efforts to flow. It is a total school space that can be
used to augment learning in more authentic ways. It is a way that we can
bring greater design thinking flows to our school.
Photo credit: “You X Ventures Studio” https://unsplash.com/photos/m2TU2gfqSeE
BACK TO SOLUTION #2: USING GOOGLE
CLASSROOM AND BLOGS
We have recently been setup with a full suite of Google
accounts for our students. We have a 3:1 student to
Chromebook ratio in the school. Yet the overwhelming
majority of work is done on paper, and shared only
between teacher and student. We can share our work
with the world, give feedback more regularly between
peers and between teacher and student, and most
importantly things can be structured so that students
have more choice in what they do and how the share.
SEPTEMBER 2019 PLANS
One other teacher and I who teach a multitude of Gr. 9 and Gr. 10 core courses will be looking to
moving many assessments into the blogosphere, by way of Weebly and Wix. All of these students
created their domains late in the school year in anticipation of this. They know the expectation, and
are fairly excited about it. Students will have greater choice in what they do, and far greater choice
in how they demonstrate their knowledge. Design thinking, and cross curricular linkages between
science, English and mathematics will be explored. It’s a new way of doing things. Students will be
able to provide feedback to each other using Google Classroom, and especially in our geographic
reality, where students are living 30 km apart, the Google suite of tools will help to break down very
real barriers to collaboration outside of regular classroom hours.
HOW TO PROMOTE
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
IN GENERAL
These meta-cognitive rubrics, used at the d.school, are tethered
to creative development, and represent the skills that creative
students should possess. Moreover, they get students to think
about their thinking, which in turn, strengthens their ability to
think creatively. I would use this in my classroom as a
checklist. It would be handed out, and gone over early in the
semester, with the end goal being that each student should be
able to self-identify where they are at in each category, and
provide an example situation or experience that
underscores why they believe they are at a certain point.

Kelly (p.151)
EXAMPLE PROJECT IN SCIENCE 20F
• The entire Ecology unit is on the right 
• Students have to choose any ecological issue that they find
interesting for any reason, and that is how they will explore the
unit over ~15 classes
• The rubric of expectations is linked HERE
• As a means of supporting project feedback in a way that
honours authentic assessment (Kelly, p.152), a co-reflective
process would be used. A conversation occurs between teacher
and student to determine where they think they are at
• Students will be commenting on each other’s work by way of
Google Classroom
HOW TO PROMOTE
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT DURING THE
EXAMPLE PROJECT
This tool would be used during the example project to
formatively assess where my students are at, in order to
help them through certain struggles and guide them into
new challenges. Hattie and Zierer (2018, p.5) identify
formative evaluation as having a 0.9 effect size on
visible learning which makes it one of the most
powerful factors. Marrying highly effective strategies
with creative development has the potential to lead to
substantial steps forward in teaching and learning in a
creative paradigm.

Kelly (p.156)
 EXAMPLE PROJECT, IDEA LAB AND
MOTIVATION
“One who is interested in developing and enhancing intrinsic motivation in children, employees, students,
etc. should not concentrate on external-control systems such as monetary rewards”.
- Pink (2009, p.8)

It was further identified by Pink (2009) that enjoyment-based intrinsic motivation is the single biggest engine of
motivation. In school, we use the currency of marks. The aim of the IDEA Lab, and to some degree, the Example
Project, were to simultaneously build intrinsic motivation, and decrease the offer of rewards.
STRUCTURING
MOTIVATION
Creative development needs structure. In project
work this is the model that might help teachers
evaluate what they are doing. This ARCS model is
applicable in any classroom, and if learning
sequences are regularly structured in a way that
these characteristics are readily evident, then the
stage is set for students to be motivated.

Hattie and Zierer (2018, p.51)

ROLE OF MOTIVATION

“Learning requires motivation. At first glance it might seem unimportant whether this
motivation is internal or external…When one takes a closer look at these two forms of
motivation...Extrinsically motivated learning often remains in the domain of surface
understanding and leads only to short-term learning gains, intrinsically motivated learning
leads to deep understanding and enables long-term learning gains.”
- Hattie and Zierer (2018, p.49)

Photo credit: Austin Chan https://unsplash.com/photos/ukzHlkoz1IE

 STARTLING FACT
“In the United States, only 30 percent of job growth now comes
from algorithmic work, while 70 percent comes from heuristic
work”.
- Pink (2009, p.13)

Canada would be very similar.

Photo credit: Darius Bashar https://unsplash.com/photos/3KYviZ-qG7M

 THE DETAILS OF THE WHY
We know now that the majority of future jobs are heuristic. We know that
students will likely need formal training of some kind, likely in a
post-secondary institution to reach those jobs, be they of employment for Photo credit: Evan Dennis https://unsplash.com/photos/i--IN3cvEjg
another, or of their own entrepreneurial pursuit. Further to this, students will
need to succeed in high school to gain access to those post-secondary institutions, in order to pass necessary courses
and pace themselves to the likely outcome of a heuristic job. Here’s where it all falls apart. High schools in particular
are treating that future job as algorithmic, based on how things are structured. We know better, but we do it anyway.
Students are typically asked to jump through certain hoops with little creative freedom and submit mundane work.
The traditional high school experience follows an algorithmic pattern. Is this right?
 SO WHY NOT?
“We leave lucrative jobs to take low-paying ones that provide a
clearer sense of purpose. We work to master the clarinet on
weekends, although we have little hope of making a dime
(Motivation 2.0) or acquiring a mate (Motivation 1.0) from
doing so. We play with puzzles even when we don’t get a few
raisins or dollars for solving them”.
- Pink (2009, p.12)

Our students, not unlike ourselves, aren’t motivated solely by

carrots or sticks. Those are short term measures, and not thinking
about creative pedagogy and how it can be implemented means that
we are trying to operate by dangling carrots and swinging sticks.

Photo credit: Andre Guerra https://unsplash.com/photos/G4ZjuxOFD8Y

MY GOAL
“Creativity and innovation alone are not sufficient for an
education makeover that fosters well-being for all, though they Photo credit: Aline de Nadai https://unsplash.com/photos/j6brni7fpvs

are integral to an entrepreneurial mindset”.

- O'Brien (2016, p.64) stated

Creative pedagogy is a step. The IDEA lab, and using digital curation
mediums with proper integration of Google Classroom are a couple of
ways to help to foster a creative culture. They make setting the stage
for well-being for all, forever a more likely outcome. This is what I
hope to accomplish in my time at SPC.
REFERENCES
Brake, L. 2019. Gr. 9 Numeracy Project - Cohort B. Manitoba Rural Learning Consortium, Winnipeg, MB.

Davee, S., Regalla, L., & Chang, S. (2015). Makerspaces: highlights of select literature. Retrieved from: http://makered.Org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/makerspace-lit-review-
5b.Pdf

Hattie, J. and Zierer, K. 2018. 10 Mindframes for Visible Learning. New York, NY. Routledge.

Jackson, R., & McCullagh, S. (2015). Developing Aesthetic Empathy: A capacity for teaching in constructivist learning environments. The Canadian Review of Art Education, 42(1),
180–197.

Kelly, R. 2016. Creative Development: Transforming education through design thinking, innovation, and invention. Edmonton, AB: Brush Education, Inc.

Kurit, R., Kurti, D., & Fleming, L. (2014a). The philosophy of educational makerspaces: part 1 of making an educational makerspace. Teacher Librarian, 41(5), 8-11.

Kurti, R., Kurti, D., & Fleming, L. (2014b). The environment and tools of great educational makerspaces: part 2 of making an educational makerspace. Teacher Librarian, 42(1), 8–
12.

Kurti, R., Kurti, D., & Fleming, L. (2014c). Practical implementation of an educational makerspace: part 3 of making an educational makerspace. Teacher Librarian, 42(2), 20–24.

O’Brien, C. 2016. Education for Sustainable Happiness and Well-being. New York, NY. Routledge.

Pepkin, K. 2000. Creative problem solving in math. Retrieved from http://m2s-conf.Uh.Edu/honors/programs-minors/honors-and-the-schools/houston-teachers-institute/curriculum-

units/pdfs/2000/articulating-the-creative-experience/pepkin-00-creativity.Pdf

Pink, D. 2009. Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us (html). Retrieved from http://ce.sharif.edu/courses/97-98/2/ce475-
1/resources/root/daniel_h_pink_drive__the_surprising_truth.pdf

Roffey, T., Sverko, C. & Therien, J. 2016. The Making of a Makerspace: Pedagogical and Physical Transformations of Learning. Retrieved from
http://www.makerspaceforeducation.com/uploads/4/1/6/4/41640463/makerspace_for_education_curriculum_guide.pdf
Achterof, A. (2016). Man holds painted mess. [Photograph] Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/fwf_fkj5tbo

Bashar, D. (2018). Flying Man. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/3kyviz-qg7m

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de Nadai, A. (2018). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/j6brni7fpvs/info

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Dennis, E. (2016). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/i--in3cvejg/info

Diego PH. (2017). The focus. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/fiq0tet6llw/info

Diggity Marketing. (2019). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/qfz_72_nxiq

Guerra, A. (2018). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/g4zjuxofd8y

Hernandez, I. (2018). Google y M&M. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/sypm1x95iry/info

JESHOOTS.COM (2018). [Photograph]. https://unsplash.com/photos/fzoitus1diq/info

Liverani, C. (2018). [Photograph]. Math exam. [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/viebsozh6m4

Mason, R. (2018). [Photograph]. https://unsplash.com/photos/viebsozh6m4

My Life Through a Lens. (2016). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/bq31l0jqaju

Sikkema, K. (2018). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/zsvuetrthx8

The Local se. (2017). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.thelocal.se/20171005/these-are-the-best-areas-for-schools-in-sweden

Walsh, R. (2018). [Photograph]. https://unsplash.com/photos/4lfrwryhryk/info

You X Ventures (2019). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/m2tu2gfqsee/info