In April 2015, the Inquiry Hub won the Ken Spencer Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, and our school received over $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. This made it so that the students could apply for money like a grant. The ideas needed to be things that many people shared an interest in, could enrich our learning, and that would bennefit students for a long time as Inquiry Hub grows.
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. What it is, is a portable kitchen island stocked with the you would need to cook almost anything. This is a great addition to our school’s actual kitchen, as it creates more counter space, and can also be moved anywhere in the school. 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.
(Above) Hannah, Sophia, Nicole, and Shauna buying kitchen supplies.
The kitchen unit has gotten a lot of use in the past few months, and 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!
It’s also been used for different cooking demonstrations during the “Inquiry Hub Eats” unit, and preparing salads using veggies from our garden.