The Junior School hosted our first Family Tinker & Maker Night. This was an opportunity for community to join our children to work through the design process to create and learn about Strathcona’s Tinker Train.

The STEAM-powered curriculum, unique to Strathcona and known in the Junior School as the Tinker Train, allows for our girls to develop the 21st Century skills of collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking.

The Tinker & Maker Night challenged our families to work together to create a bird. Using a range of crafty materials, creative designs were generated, and a variety of amazingly looking birds were constructed.

The aim of the evening was to share a snapshot of the learning that is taking place in our classrooms with parents and family members and provide an authentic learning experience that could be enjoyed as a family. The design challenge undertaken required experimenting, generating original ideas and making discoveries through exploration, trial and error. It also required creativity and collaboration and encouraged the evaluation of the finished product.

The Tinker Train concept has been designed with focus on the interconnectedness of the five carriages of train, each representing a phase of the design process, which continue to support and develop students understanding across curriculum areas.

Understand – Students develop their understanding of the problem

Identify – Students identify a question related to the problem

Ideate – Students brainstorm and develop ideas to solve the problem

Create – Students create prototypes of their solution

Share – Students share their creation, discoveries, and learning

It is these carriages of progress that enable students to build strong learning fundamentals which set them up for lifelong learning.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this night. It was a wonderful showcase of Strathcona’s vision for our students learning and the great sense of community we have at our School. We look forward to continuing the journey on the Junior School Tinker Train.

Geoff Little
Head of Junior School

Eleni Kyritsis
Junior School Leader of Digital Technology and Innovation