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Darryl Toerien

Active 16 hours, 3 minutes ago
Organisation: Blanchelande College
Role: Head of Inquiry-Based Learning
Town/City: Guernsey
Country: United Kingdom
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  • 14th June 2026 at 12:18 pm in reply to: Year 9 (Grade 8) Interdisciplinary Signature Work Inquiry @ Blanchelande College #90769
    Darryl Toerien
    Keymaster

      G.K. Chesterton in Frank Cottrell Boyce’s Foreword to Pandæmonium, 1660–1886: The Coming of the Machine as Seen by Contemporary Observers, by Humphrey Jennings (1985/2012),

      The World is not perishing from lack of wonders, it is perishing from lack of wonder.

      Also, Frank continues

      Progress is not motivated by money. Progress comes from those who are happy to embark on a course of action without quite knowing where it will lead, without doing a feasibility study, without fear of failure or too much hope of reward.* The engine of of innovation is reckless generosity…National identity is not a settled thing—it’s not a typical dish or a national costume. A nation is what Philip Larkin would call ‘a frail, travelling coincidence’—a ragtag of people on a journey together…

      *C.S. Peirce (1955),

      Upon this first, and in one sense this sole, rule of reason—that in order to learn you must desire to learn, and in so desiring not be satisfied with what you already incline to think [judging according to the weight of evidence]—there follows one corollary…Do not block the way of inquiry!

      13th June 2026 at 11:50 am in reply to: Year 9 (Grade 8) Interdisciplinary Signature Work Inquiry @ Blanchelande College #90767
      Darryl Toerien
      Keymaster

        Notes on previous post…

        By record, I mean the record of human knowledge of reality as uncovered through inquiry in the various academic disciplines (scholarship). This does not discount important insights into reality that we can gain from fiction, but this is a discussion for later.

        Theologically, from a Christian and Catholic perspective, Jesus’ self-identification with Isaiah’s prophetic text could not be more attention-worthy, because in doing so, He declares Himself to be the Messiah the Jews were expecting, even though many would not realise it. His own words [as reported by Luke], then, become prophetic and eschatological, in that the values of the everlasting Kingdom of God that He has come to usher in are at odds with those of the kingdoms of this world. Moreover, His acting in and on the world is part of a Historical record that is still being written.

        Laudato si’ is the most consequential Catholic social teaching since Rerum novarum (Of new things): On capital and labour (15 May 1891), and its exhortation to hear the cry of the poor and the earth links also and obviously to the Creation and Covenant in Theology. And while it will not be possible to read the entire encyclical, even in part it remains revelatory, for example

        “The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast” [quoting Benedict XVI]. For this reason, the ecological crisis is also a summons to profound interior conversion.

        —

        Thinking more about Blake’s London, I remembered talking with Frank Cottrell Boyce at the 25th anniversary of the extraordinary Smallbone Library at Oakham School about his involvement with the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics Games. The other guest speaker, Huw Davies, had earlier mentioned to me that a revelatory text for him had been Pandæmonium, 1660–1886: The Coming of the Machine as Seen by Contemporary Observers, by Humphrey Jennings, which I bought. It turned out that my copy had a Foreword by Frank. Of the book, Frank has said

        When I first held this book in my hand, I swear I could feel it shaking with its own internal energy.

        Frank gifted a copy of the book to Danny Boyle, who said of the book

        Pandaemonium was the biggest single inspiration for the Olympic Opening Ceremony…the book was the equivalent of Pepys giving you a guided tour of the birth of electricity and the mechanical age—it’s brilliant, exciting and essential.

        I have now pulled my copy of Pandaemonium off its shelf, a copy that Frank was kind enough to sign, and it is full to overflowing with revelatory texts about industrialization that a full day of scouring the web did not uncover—a Godsend.

        The following from Frank’s Foreword caught my eye:

        Pandaemonium documents the Industrial Revolution. We’ve had another revolution since then, of course. The Opening Ceremony was an event that both celebrated and immersed itself in the digital revolution. But at its heart was that most analogue of things–a book. Only books can free us from the tyranny of the Present. The internet gives us the whole world now but it has shrunk the ‘now’ to a moment. As Danny Boyle put it, ‘ we are children of the machine age, locked inside this terrifying beast, increasingly innocent of how it makes things for us’. Only books can let us hear the voices that brought us here. Also they can be given as gifts.

        In addition, then, to a revelatory text about industrialisation, it will be revelatory for Year 9 students to watch the truly extraordinary Opening Ceremony (no ads) at the start of the Inquiry, being a kind of text, as it is highly unlikely that any of them will have seen it [due to not having been born yet!].

        So much more still to come.

        —

        11th June 2026 at 12:11 pm in reply to: Year 9 (Grade 8) Interdisciplinary Signature Work Inquiry @ Blanchelande College #90720
        Darryl Toerien
        Keymaster

          Next year will be the first year since starting the Year 9 Signature Work at Blanchelande in 2021-2 that the format will be unchanged (i.e., the timetable allocation will remain exactly the same), which means that I can focus solely on refining the Inquiry rather than on refining it while also needing to revise it at the same time. So, thinking ahead…

          Paulo Freire, in The importance of the act of reading (1983, p. 5), writes that

          reading the world precedes reading the word, and the subsequent reading of the word cannot dispense with continually reading the world.

          This is inquiry—coming to know and understand reality through learning to accurately and dynamically read the world (experience) and the word (record). Moreover, inquiry is communal. Elsewhere (1970/2005, p. 72), Freire writes that

          apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis, individuals cannot be truly human, [because] knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.

          Or, writing more than 50 years later, as Jonathan Rauch (2021, p. 4) puts it, while

          acquiring knowledge [necessarily involves] personal struggles to find the right questions and assemble mosaic tiles of information to tell the tale coherently, [acquiring knowledge] is a conversation, not a destination…a journey we take together, not alone, [because] others are always involved.

          And, as Douglas Knight (1968, p. viii) reminds us, these others

          are not limited by our normal boundaries of time, space, and social or economic level (although they can be)

          because of the record.

          Reading the world necessarily precedes reading the word, because we live, move and have our being in the world before we learn to read about the world, and even after we have learnt to read about the world, we must return to living, moving and having our being in the world. However, because we act in the world and on the world, we change the world even as the world changes us. In our acting in and on the world, we do so not just as thoughtless beasts—although we can, and sometimes do—but also as [deeply] thoughtful beings. It is precisely in our capacity for thoughtful action that reading the word becomes decisive, because the word enlarges the world of possibilities open to us, and in this sense Ludwig Wittgenstein is correct that the limits of our language are the limits of our world. Or, as Iris Murdoch is said to say in Iris (2001),

          if one doesn’t have words, how does one think?

          Now, concerning the reading of the word, Eric O. Springsted, discussing Simone Weil’s notion of attention in Attention, availability, and the reading of books (2025), writes that

          if the development of attention—making oneself available—is what is most important for a student, then it is clear that the teacher’s most important task is to make that possible. No one can teach attention, just as one cannot teach insight. It has to come from within the student. But one can give students texts that are worthy of attention, that can be revelatory to them.

          The challenge for us, then, is to provide students with and also enable them to find words (texts) that are worthy of their attention/ revelatory to them throughout the inquiry process, which, at a certain point—between Construct and Express—become their own. For their own words to become revelatory to them, and to others, they must come by stages to know what they think by striving to see what they say (attributed by Graham Wallas to an anonymous girl).

          Reading [and writing—still to come] throughout the inquiry process:

          • Connect | Reading to engage with the text intellectually and emotionally
          • Wonder | Reading to enter into dialogue with the text
          • Investigate | Reading to make sense of/ know the text (what is the text saying to me?)
          • Construct | Reading to find meaning in/ understand the text (what does the text mean to me?)
          • Express | Reading to communicate personal knowledge and understanding
          • Reflect | Reading to reflect on learning

          The theme of this Signature Work is Planet Guernsey: Living well in a world worth living in, and it is framed through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is embedded in the Year 9 English curriculum—which includes modernist/ modern poetry, which I will return to—and it develops meaningful curricular links with Geography (World Development and Globalisation), History (Industrialisation) and Theology (Creation and Covenant / Catholic Social Teaching).

          Finding suitable revelatory texts for Connect is challenging, mainly due to a combination of students not having much, if any, background knowledge about the SDGs and there being a wide ability range. Furthermore, as time is limited, we need to be purposeful in helping students to identify an SDG, and then a focus within that SDG, to investigate. This year, we developed a Theology Inquiry for Year 8, titled Who is the Messiah that the Jews were expecting? (LibGuide link), which worked very well. I am thinking, therefore, of starting with Jesus inaugurating his ministry by identifying himself with Isaiah’s prophetic text (Luke 4:18-19 referencing Isaiah 61:1-2, HCSB), which all students will be familiar with:

          The Spirit of the Lord is on Me,/ because He has anointed Me/ to preach good news to the poor./ He has sent Me/ to proclaim freedom to the captives/ and recovery of sight to the blind,/ to set free the oppressed,/ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

          This concern for the poor in the broadest sense of the word provides a strong link to Pope Francis’s second encyclical, Laudato si’ (Praise be to You): On care for our common home (24 May 2015), which exhorts us “to hear the cry of the poor and the earth” (emphasis added), and which took shape alongside the SDGs (29 September 2015).

          I am also thinking of using a poem like William Blake’s London (1794), which, although not modernist (1890-1950), sheds a bleak light on the urbanisation accompanying the unfolding Industrial Revolution (1760-1840):

          I wander through each chartered street,/ Near where the chartered Thames does flow,/ A mark in every face I meet,/ Marks of weakness, marks of woe.// In every cry of every man,/ In every infant’s cry of fear,/ In every voice, in every ban,/ The mind-forged manacles I hear:// How the chimney-sweeper’s cry/ Every blackening church appals,/ And the hapless soldier’s sigh/ Runs in blood down palace-walls.// But most, through midnight streets I hear/ How the youthful harlot’s curse/ Blasts the new-born infant’s tear,/ And blights with plagues the marriage hearse.

          Some work for me still to do here, and I will reach out to my colleagues in English for suggestions.

          More to follow.

          1st June 2026 at 12:59 pm in reply to: Discussing Education, Libraries and FOSIL With Elizabeth Hutchinson #90582
          Darryl Toerien
          Keymaster

            Episode 26 of FOSIL, Education and School Libraries (recorded on 30 May 2026) is now available: Why does it matter? How do we, as School Librarians, answer this question?.

            —

            Preparatory notes

            This episode marks 3 years of an ongoing conversation with Elizabeth in this format, and 15 years since we first met. A central theme of our ongoing conversation has been,

            What kind of school library/ian is integral to what kind of educational process?

            How we answer this question matters — why?

            All schools are public schools, in that they produce a public. The question, then (Postman, 1996), “is not, Does or doesn’t public schooling create a public? The question is, What kind of public does it create? A conglomerate of self-indulgent consumers? Angry, soulless, directionless masses? Indifferent, confused citizens? Or a public imbued with confidence, a sense of purpose, a respect for learning, and tolerance?”

            This is why the chief task of education is to guide the evolving dynamism through which a person forms themself as a person (Maritain, 1943). However, in order to make sense of this, we need some understanding of what this evolving dynamism is, as well as the process through which a person forms themself as a person.

            The “ultimate freedom we have as human beings is the power to select what we will allow or require our minds to dwell upon” (Willard, 2002). Now, what we will allow or require our minds to dwell upon, is who we are, or are in the process of becoming. This fact is empowering, in that we can determine who we are in the process of becoming by what we choose to think about, or dwell on mentally. This fact is also sobering, in that we must do so, whether consciously or not. This brings the importance and value of our chief task as educators into sharp focus, especially in relation to the mind and the thoughts it thinks.

            Willard (2002) continues that “the realm of thought involves four main factors. These are ideas, images, information, and our ability to think, but the two most powerful ones are ideas and images.” More on this next time…

            Links/ quotations/ updates:

            • Keynote for the UK School Library Association 2021 Conference | Inquiry: An Educational and Moral Imperative (includes links to the IFLA School Library Guidelines and the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto).
            • An article for ACCESS (37:4) | Constructing an Instructional Identity and Destiny From the Stories We Tell and the Songs We Sing.
            • Matt Seybold‘s (2026) The American Vandal podcast. “The durability of a totalitarian state depends upon systemic assaults on mass literacy followed by continuous suppression of conditions for its reemergence.”
            • FOSIL Group Forum post with links to infographics for Pope Leo XIV‘s (2026) Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity): On safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence. | Tolkien/ Gandalf quotation: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.”
            • An article for The School Librarian (74:2) | Inquiry: Fundamentally Creative and Fundamental to Creativity.
            • SJSU 2026 | ALiVE Library | Teaching Inquiry as Conversation with Barbara Stripling and David Loertscher now includes a link to the recording. Details of the book may be found here.
            29th May 2026 at 3:00 pm in reply to: ChatGPT et al #90535
            Darryl Toerien
            Keymaster

              Continued from yesterday…

              The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has produced a website for Magnifica Humanitas, which includes an infographic for each chapter of the encyclical:

              Chapter 1 (download as PDF or JPG)

              Chapter 2 (download as PDF or JPG)

              Chapter 3 (download as PDF or JPG)

              Chapter 4 (download as PDF or JPG)

              Chapter 5 (download as PDF or JPG)

               

              28th May 2026 at 4:14 pm in reply to: ChatGPT et al #90511
              Darryl Toerien
              Keymaster

                It has been some time since updating here.

                In terms of working my own way through the issues surrounding GenAI, see the following:

                • Artificial Intelligence and the Atrophication of Intellect and Academic Integrity, an article for Synergy (Volume 23, Number 1, 2025), the journal of the School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV).
                • AI: The perfect storm that rages against the evolving dynamism through which we form ourselves as human beings, an article for ACCESS (Volume 39, Issue 4, December 2025), the national journal of the Australian School Library Association.

                I have also been discussing GenAI in relation to inquiry with Elizabeth Hutchinson for our podcast series, FOSIL, Education and School Libraries, specifically the following episodes:

                • Episode 21 | Clarifying the purpose of education through the focus of the school library (February 2026).
                • Episode 22 | Generative AI and inquiry: Part 1: Preserving human voice in education (March 2026).
                • Episode 23 | Generative AI and Inquiry: Part 2: The importance of Connecting (March 2026).
                • Episode 24 | Generative AI and Inquiry: Part 3: Looking at Investigate and Construct (April 2026).
                • Episode 25 | Generative AI and Inquiry: Part 4: Getting to Wonder (May 2026).

                —

                On 15 May 2026, Pope Leo signed his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity): On safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.

                There is much to reflect on in this encyclical, many themes of which we have already touched on above, and I will share more on this tomorrow.

                22nd May 2026 at 12:57 pm in reply to: Learning to predict the future by inventing it – TeenTech Awards #90358
                Darryl Toerien
                Keymaster

                  Zora Neale Hurston (1942, p. 143) described research, which is part of inquiry, in the following way:

                  Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose. It is a seeking that he who wishes may know the cosmic secrets of the world and they that dwell therein.

                  Last night we celebrated the purposeful poking and prying of students who had entered this year’s TeenTech Awards. Remarks from parents highlighted two things—the variety and originality of the ideas that students had come up with to make the world a better place, and the knowledge and passion with which they discussed them. This, of course, is a reflection who they are in the process of becoming, which is more important, and more profound.

                  We are excited that two of this year’s teams have qualified for the final round of judging at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in London at the end of June.

                  • Alice, Effie and Lucia in Year 7 qualified in the Food and Retail category for Savvy Shopper, their smart shopping trolley that utilizes RFID technology to adapt to different shopping styles and needs, including an edutainment mode for shoppers with young children. Judges praised the project for being “thoroughly researched, with good critical analysis of options, [demonstrating] a very high level of thinking about the challenges of modern shopping.”
                  • Edouard and Reuben in Year 8 qualified in the Best Research (Years 7-11) category for WoodlandWardens, their spider-like robot whose primary function is to survey trees and report on their health and structural integrity in order to minimize costly storm damage, and more broadly, a suite of robots with different shapes adapted to different kinds of woodlands and forests. Judges praised the project for its demonstration of “strong research capability and clear understanding of a real ecological challenge, combining desk research, field investigation, species data analysis and meaningful consultation with local experts.”

                  We are very much looking forward to the Final, less so for the chance to win an award—after all “the prize is the pleasure of finding the thing out, the kick in the discovery” (Feynman, 1999)—than as an excuse for further purposeful poking and prying.

                  10th May 2026 at 11:33 am in reply to: Discussing Education, Libraries and FOSIL With Elizabeth Hutchinson #90257
                  Darryl Toerien
                  Keymaster

                    Saturday 9 May | Episode 25 of FOSIL, Education and School Libraries is now available: Generative AI Through Inquiry: Part 4.

                    In this Episode, we discussed GenAI in relation to the Connect and Wonder stages of the FOSIL Inquiry Cycle.

                    The next Episode, which is scheduled for Saturday 30 May, will be our 26th Episode and mark three years (!) of discussing Education, Libraries and FOSIL with Elizabeth.

                    References in relation to the Connect and Wonder stages:

                    • Connect: The sense of awe—in Connect—that moves us to (w/W)onder is reflected in Paul Atreides’ observation in Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune (1976) that we are surrounded by the unknown, which is where we look for knowledge. The movement from the known into the unknown is guided and sustained by significant questions.
                    • Wonder: Hans-Georg Gadamer (Truth and method, 1960/1994): “To question means to lay open, to place in the open. Only a person who has questions can have knowledge.“
                    • Wonder: Jerome Bruner (The process of education, 1960/1977): “Given particular subject matter or a particular concept, it is easy to ask trivial questions. … It is also easy to ask impossibly difficult questions. The trick is to find the medium questions that can be answered and that take you somewhere.“

                    —

                    20th April 2026 at 3:00 pm in reply to: Discussing Education, Libraries and FOSIL With Elizabeth Hutchinson #90114
                    Darryl Toerien
                    Keymaster

                      Episode 24 of FOSIL, Education and School Libraries is now available: Generative AI Through Inquiry: Part 3.

                      In this Episode, we discussed GenAI in relation to the Investigate and Construct stages of the FOSIL Inquiry Cycle, and will do so in relation to all six stages in the next Episode.

                      13th April 2026 at 8:32 am in reply to: Year 9 (Grade 8) Interdisciplinary Signature Work Inquiry @ Blanchelande College #89878
                      Darryl Toerien
                      Keymaster

                        It occurs to me that I have not posted here our definition of Signature Work inquiry:

                        An inquiry-based, interdisciplinary exploration of a significant problem, issue or question that is personally identified and defined by the student, and that involves substantial, developmentally appropriate reading, writing and reflection, and culminates in an authentic product that is publicly celebrated—called such to reflect the high level of personalisation and individual initiative involved, which makes the work authentically, uniquely and proudly their own.

                        By interdisciplinary we mean making meaningful curricular links between subjects explicit—for example, choosing to frame the Year 9 English Language speeches through the UN Sustainable Development Goals establishes a link to work on development in Geography and Catholic Social Teaching in Theology. In addition to creating a richer web of learning, this strengthens the perception and experience of knowledge as a meaningful and coherent whole.

                        2nd April 2026 at 11:40 am in reply to: Year 9 (Grade 8) Interdisciplinary Signature Work Inquiry @ Blanchelande College #89774
                        Darryl Toerien
                        Keymaster

                          Insight is the endpoint of a long-term iterative process (Syed, 2015), but further, deeper insight may be gained through further iteration. This is the case with insight into what we are trying to achieve through inquiry, and, in this case, specifically Signature Work inquiry in Year 9.

                          The Year 9 Signature Work inquiry, you will recall, is embedded in English. The most obvious reason for this is that it serves as preparation for the GCSE English Language Speaking and Listening NEA. However, the integration with English — and, indeed, all academic subjects/ disciplines — is more profound.

                          Paulo Freire, in The importance of the act of reading (1983, p. 5), writes that

                          reading the world precedes reading the word, and the subsequent reading of the word cannot dispense with continually reading the world.

                          This, essentially, is inquiry — coming to know and understand the world and ourselves in it, through reading the world (experience) and reading the word (record), as the basis for responsible participation in community.

                          Now, there is more to be said about reading the world through the various academic subjects/ disciplines, which I will return to. As for reading the word, Eric O. Springsted, discussing Simone Weil’s notion of attention in Attention, Availability, and the Reading of Books, writes that

                          if the development of attention — making oneself available — is what is most important for a student, then it is clear that the teacher’s most important task is to make that possible. No one can teach attention, just as one cannot teach insight. It has to come from within the student. But one can give students texts that are worthy of attention, that can be revelatory to them.

                          The question, then, in English as it is in the other academic subjects/ disciplines, is what are the revelatory texts that we are enabling our students to read? More to follow on this, too.

                          —

                          References

                          • Freire, P. (1983). The importance of the act of reading. Journal of Education, 165(1), 5–11. tinyurl.com/38x8etpj
                          • Springsted, E. O. (2025, January 18). Attention, availability, and the reading of books. Attention. https://tinyurl.com/3buzrh9y
                          • Syed, M. (2015, November 14). Viewpoint: How creativity is helped by failure. BBC News. https://tinyurl.com/35929aaw
                          1st April 2026 at 9:32 am in reply to: Year 6 (Grade 5) Interdisciplinary Signature Work Inquiry @ Blanchelande College #89751
                          Darryl Toerien
                          Keymaster

                            The Easter break is giving us an opportunity to reflect on some of the many changes to and lessons we have learnt from our Signature Work inquiry programme.

                            Year 6 students are preparing for their Campaign week, which follows a highpoint in their Heroic Inquiry Journey, namely, the annual Changemakers Fair. I will let Jenny elaborate, but wanted to share a snapshot of this special event, which is as engaging for the students as it is for the local charities involved. I share below the Library news blog post about the event (see here for posts tagged “inquiry”).

                            —

                            Last week Friday changemakers from 8 different local charities and organisations participated in our annual market-place event to inspire Year 6 to become changemakers themselves. Having already completed work in Science, Maths, English, Religious Studies and ICT, Year 6 are just beginning the phase of their Signature Work inquiry where they design and run campaigns to change their community for the better. This is a very practical opportunity to put Catholic Social Teaching into practice as they take action inspired by their chosen causes. Amy Woollaston, the Active Travel Officer from The Health Commission commented “It was a pleasure to attend this event at Blanchelande College that encourages young people to grow into socially and environmentally conscious citizens, deepening their empathy and their understanding of the vital work done by Guernsey’s local charities.” Dr Susan Wilson, Founder and CEO of the Tumaini Fund added, “this is a wonderful event and it is such a joy to be included.” Year 6 did an amazing job engaging with all the different stands, and many of the visitors commented on how engaged and well-prepared they were. Well done Year 6!

                            30th March 2026 at 9:26 am in reply to: Discussing Education, Libraries and FOSIL With Elizabeth Hutchinson #89745
                            Darryl Toerien
                            Keymaster

                              Episode 23 of FOSIL, Education and School Libraries is now available: Generative AI Through Inquiry: Part 2: The place and role of AI in Inquiry.

                              In this Episode, we discussed GenAI in relation to the Connect stage of the FOSIL Inquiry Cycle, and will do so in relation to Investigate and Construct in the next Episode.

                              —

                              27th March 2026 at 11:46 am in reply to: Learning to predict the future by inventing it – TeenTech Awards #89668
                              Darryl Toerien
                              Keymaster

                                Hello, Jannath — I am sorry that I missed replying to you here.

                                I never managed to align our Year 9 Signature Work Inquiry with the TeenTech Awards this year, mainly because our timetable changed substantially (see this post in Year 9 (Grade 8) Interdisciplinary Signature Work Inquiry @ Blanchelande College). However, I have ideas for next year that I will share here once I know whether the format will remain unchanged, or not.

                                Additionally, having now run the TeenTech Awards twice as a weekly 45-minute Scholars’ Society Activity (see here in Library news), we have some very clear ideas about how to do this even better next year, which I will also share here in due course.

                                In the meantime, we have just submitted our Innovation Logs for this year’s Awards (see below from Library news):

                                —

                                Our TeenTech Scholars have wrapped up a busy term by submitting their Innovation Logs for the national qualifying round of the highly competitive TeenTech Awards.

                                Innovation Logs, which detail the development of their ideas to make the world a better place to live in, can be up to 15 pages long. This year we have 15 students in Years 7-9 competing in 8 Teams, who between them averaged 14 pages / 2,798 words per Innovation Log. This is an extraordinary achievement, given the exceptional quality of their work—for perspective, the Year 10 HPQ research report is 2,000 words.

                                This year’s submissions are:

                                • Ambient Audio-Visual (Matthew in Y7 & Genevieve in Y8) | Ambient Music audio-visualised as environment for inducing calm and a space to think.
                                • Ball Buddy (Isabella & Isla in Y7) | An interactive robot that can play a variety of ball games, particularly aimed at children who have no-one to play or train with.
                                • Construct-O-Bot (Dexter & Felix in Y7) | Construction robots designed to work alongside humans providing support with dangerous, difficult or unpleasant tasks such as clearing asbestos.
                                • Dip Diagnostics (Jake in Y7 & Alexander in Y8) | A cheap and easy-to-use test for bacteria in swimming pool water.
                                • Hydraband (Sienna in Y9) | A stylish, low-cost wearable device for the biometric tracking of dehydration levels and incentivising hydration.
                                • Savvy Shopper (Alice, Effie & Lucia in Y7) | A smart shopping trolley that utilises RFID technology to adapt to different shopping styles and needs, including an edutainment mode for shoppers with young children.
                                • Sleep Pad (Henrietta in Y7) | A tablet-style device with accompanying app to help children to develop and maintain healthy sleep habits.
                                • WoodlandWardens (Edouard & Reuben in Y8) | A spider-like robot whose primary function is to survey trees and report on their health and structural integrity in order to minimize costly storm damage. More broadly, a suite of robots with different shapes adapted to different kinds of woodlands and forests.

                                Should any Teams progress through the qualifying round, they will compete in the Final at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) in London at the end of June. While we are hopeful for a return to the IET—following rEcycle and Co‘s success last year—and wish our Scholars well, we are all in agreement with Richard Feynman that

                                the [real] prize is the pleasure of finding the thing out, the kick in the discovery.

                                —

                                21st March 2026 at 12:44 pm in reply to: Discussing Education, Libraries and FOSIL With Elizabeth Hutchinson #89619
                                Darryl Toerien
                                Keymaster

                                  I can’t believe that it has been over a year since I updated this, but so much has happened since then, which is partly why…

                                  To update, starting with the post above:

                                  The inaugural FOSIL Symposium on Saturday 8 February 2025 — hosted online by Elizabeth, and in-person by Blanchelande College Library — was an extraordinarily uplifting experience, with more than 200 colleagues from around the world joining speakers from around the world for a day-long celebration of enabling our students to develop as engaged and empowered inquirers.

                                  Teaching Inquiry as Conversation: Bringing Wonder to Life, co-authored with Barbara for Bloomsbury, is due to published on 14 May (online) and 11 June (print).

                                  Since Episode 17 of FOSIL, Education and School Libraries — The FOSIL Symposium Taster — we have recorded:

                                  • Episode 18 | Beyond the Symposium: The Future of School Libraries and Inquiry Learning (April 2025)
                                  • Episode 19 | Inquiry Learning: Can Schools Do It Without Libraries? (July 2025)
                                  • Episode 20 | Update: FOSIL, Books and the Institute of Advancement of Inquiry (December 2025)
                                  • Episode 21 | Clarifying the purpose of education through the focus of the school library (February 2026)
                                  • Episode 22 | Generative AI through inquiry: Part 1: Preserving human voice in education (March 2026)

                                  I met with Elizabeth this morning (Saturday 21 March) for Part 2 of Generative AI through inquiry, and will add that here as soon as it becomes available.

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