2School - How Do Our Experiences Shape our Identity and our Worldviews?

John Ware, Grade 8 - How Do Our Experiences Shape our Identity and our Worldviews?

Throughout the week at 2School, Grade 8 students thought about the many social, cultural and institutional structures that are a part of their lives. Students began to ask questions about how these might challenge or reinforce their own personal worldviews, and how single stories about people, events and issues can be dangerous and limiting.

What is the greatest thing the land has taught me?

Working alongside a CBE Indigenous learning specialist, Lesley Tait, students came to understand that multiple worldviews can be held together. By learning how knowledge can walk alongside each other, students recognized that this gathering of knowledge is true, important and beautiful. That they can complement and enhance, rather than alienate. That an Aspen tree can teach us about community and what it means to live in a place and also have a latin name and be deciduous.

Working with NovAtel 

Questions around STEM innovations, sparked the opportunity for students to ride an Electronic Autonomous Vehicle (ELA) shuttle and to hear from engineers from NovAtel, who designed the tracking device. Students reflected on the willingness of citizens to embrace autonomous vehicles and how cultures around driving and city planning will be influenced by this innovation. a place and also have a latin name and be deciduous.

Students examine Day of the Dead exhibit. 

BUMP. What story does this tell us about Calgary? 

Students also examined what stories are being told through public spaces (New Central Library), the arts(Calgary Opera), architecture and the land (Weaslehead Flats) to understand how perspectives shape our worldviews and the identity of our city. Students asked the question, what are the stories that the Beltline Urban Murals Project (BUMP) is telling about Calgary? Through examining the art in the district, students came to interpret the stories that were being shared about Calgary and also identified stories that were not told. Students' reflections illuminated the need for multiple stories and perspectives of our city to be highlighted by our art, as it is an important way to message our identity and provide a more complete story of who we are.

In meeting with the Deputy Chief Superintendent Jeannie Everett and School Trustee Julie Hrdlicka, students were able to understand different perspectives in public education, what is important now and how students are being supported in their learning.

Students discovered that there are many layers that inform our worldviews and identity. By questioning their assumptions of what “normal” means they have begun to open
opportunities for dialogue and change, in themselves, in the community they live in, and in our city.

Web of our week’s explorations 

~ Margeaux Montgomery, 2School Site Coordinator