With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1484213
Created by the Canada Wide Media advertising department in partnership with Stratford Hall School S tudents at Stratford Hall strive for excellence, confidence and service in an academically challenging, pluralistic community where everyone thrives and belongs. But that is only the beginning. Stratford Hall brings students beyond the globally minded and socially conscious education that full International Baccalaureate (IB) Continuum schools are known for and offers kindergarten to grade 12 students something truly special, something that is not learned from a book: design thinking. Stratford Hall's reputation for going beyond the traditional is most evident in its Idea Lab on the institution's East Vancouver campus, where students of all ages gather to create, innovate, invent, network, explore, and share ideas and resources. "Creative thinking facilitates critical thinking, and both are vital to the education process and crucial to success in the 21st century work world," says Andrea Ryan, Idea Lab Coordinator. This is especially salient to Stratford Hall, given that its intent is to prepare young people for the challenges of the world they will inherit. The Idea Lab is not only a physical space where students can design and fabricate objects (among other things, it contains a 'garage' full of equipment like laser cutters, plus a fully-functional kitchen)—the experimenting and inventing enable students to develop as creative thinkers. Meg Penafiel, Stratford Hall's Primary Years Programme Teacher- Librarian K-5, adds, "The Idea Lab encourages children from kindergarten to think through problems, and while the process is a lot of fun—our students do everything from making 3-D models to creating menus based on the culinary needs of clients—this type of thinking benefits their proficiency in every aspect of our curriculum, from math to science." Stratford Hall: Design Thinkers at Work The IB Continuum independent school empowers students with creative, critical thinking and an Idea Lab where, if they can dream it, they can build it.