TEDxYMCAAcademy: “The City as Laboratory” Event

YMCA Academy Events, TEDx No Comments

A class project that investigates and integrates the in-progress revitalization of the West Don Lands.

Pivotal municipal decision-makers joining a high school class — not just as guest speakers, but in a mentorship and collaborative role.

Leveraging the power of grassroots advocacy initiatives to inform students’ senses of justice.

A field trip examining the impact of typefaces in advertising that simultaneously mitigates attention issues through the “beautiful cacophony” of the urban landscape.

These are just a few of the innovative ideas and exciting new approaches that were shared at “The City as Laboratory” — the 2015 edition of the annual TEDxYMCAAcademy speakers series.

Hosted by YMCA Academy Head of School Dr. Don Adams, this event featured talks by seven people who are on the vanguard of bringing urbanism to life for learners of all ages in Toronto:

  • Andrew Davies — Executive Director @ No. 9 Contemporary Art & the Environment
  • Zahra Ebrahim — Principal/Founder @ Architext and professor @ U of T
  • Josh Fullan — Teacher @ University of Toronto Schools and Founder & Facilitator @ Maximum City
  • Todd Harrison — Teacher @ YMCA Academy / Senior editor @ Spacing
  • Leslie McBeth — Teacher @ Greenwood College / Facilitator @ Cohort21
  • Shawn Micallef — Author, Toronto Star columnist, professor @ U of T & OCADU, and Senior editor @ Spacing
  • Pamela Robinson — School of Urban and Regional Planning Graduate Program Director @ Ryerson

This year’s speakers brought a wealth of knowledge, passion, and energy to a sold-out crowd in the Toronto Central Grosvenor Street YMCA Centre auditorium — along with and inspired and inspiring vision for the future of education, in this city and beyond.

Toronto, like many cities around the world, is in the midst of a rapid transformation. An urbanizing world is an exciting educational opportunity in many respects, one that fosters new ideas, collaboration, and immersive engagement. It also presents myriad challenges, however; residents’ relationships with their cities are often complex, and sometimes fraught with experiences of injustice and hardship. For both of these reasons, though, it’s imperative to develop urban literacy skills; the opportunities are what make it exciting, while the challenges are what make it absolutely vital.

No.9 Mini House Building

Andras Nagy Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning No Comments

Staff and students were treated to an inspiring workshop delivered by the No.9 Poetics in Architecture crew right at our school!  We were all architects for an afternoon playing with shape and perspective in the creation of mini 6-sided structures.  We even included decorative paper that looked like solar panels, gardens and a modern lime-coloured accent wall.  When shining lights on our structures, or placing them on mirrors, we noticed the infinite possibilities that exist “outside the box” from traditional models of buildings or houses.

Check out the rest the rest of the pictures on our Facebook page!

Upcoming TEDx Event: “The City as Laboratory”

YMCA Academy Events, TEDx No Comments

tedx_6_banner

WHAT: The City as Laboratory (TEDxYMCAAcademy 2015)
WHEN: Saturday, April 11, 12pm-2pm
WHERE: Toronto-Central Grosvenor Street YMCA Centre Auditorium
COST: Free!
TICKETS: Click here to reserve
MORE INFO: www.tedxymcaacademy.com

ABOUT THE EVENT

How can engaging with the people and places in your local neighbourhood foster new a new understanding of a city’s vitality?

Why is it so important to teach young people about urbanism — and what’s the best way to go about it?

What can the gloriously messy, electrifyingly experimental nature of a modern city offer educators seeking experiential learning opportunities?

These questions, and many more, will be explored at “The City as Laboratory,” the 2015 edition of the annual TEDxYMCAAcademy speaker series.

This event features talks by:

These seven change agents will share projects and ideas purpose-built to spark innovation and foster engagement in Canada’s urban landscape.

We live in a rapidly urbanizing world. Understanding how cities work, and how you can change them for the better, is a key skill for learners of all ages — and, as talks at this TEDx event will demonstrate, there’s no better or more authentic source for this knowledge than our urban environments themselves.

“The City as Laboratory” is hosted by The YMCA Academy, an independent high school in central Toronto serving students with learning differences. Spacing is the media partner for this event.

The Cosmos in the Classroom

Zareh Demirdji Experiential Learning, Science and Math No Comments

The universe is a vast, marvelous and awe inspiring place, and as the great Carl Sagan once said, we humans, are a way for the cosmos to know itself. The grade nine unit of Earth and Space Science focuses on astronomy, the study of the universe and its major components. Sadly, it is hard to observe astronomical phenomena while at school, but thanks to computer programs we can bring some aspects of the cosmos into the classroom. In order to study the constellations and explore the characteristics of stars, students use a program called Stellarium on our school computers to explore the night sky, and the constellations that have captivated us for thousands of years.

Biochemical Molecules and Cells

Zareh Demirdji Experiential Learning, Science and Math No Comments

Although cells are the smallest organized units of living things, they are made of even smaller parts. These biological compounds that make up the structures of cells themselves are constructed from the macronutrients we call carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids. In order to get a more in depth understanding of these molecules, students were given molecule kits do build and observe them in three dimensions.