The INQubator program at Coast Mountain Academy is an expression of the school’s core academic philosophy that curiosity and wonder are the best teachers.
In grades 7-9, students take part in a year-long course to learn how to explore questions and projects of their own choosing. With the guidance of teachers, students practice refining their curiosities about the world into actionable learning exercises with practical goals and processes. These projects are free-form and not locked into traditional school subjects. Prime examples of student projects in the past have included:
- Motorized go-carts
- Language learning
- Fiction writing
- Business ventures
The work in these courses takes place both at school and at home, and culminates in a formal presentation to the school community about their planning and learning.
In grade 12 students continue the practice of inquiry-learning in Humanities, where they must design and complete three large projects by way of demonstrating learning in their chosen grade 12 Social Science course. The combination of student choice in selecting this course and their foci in it is the culmination of curiosity-learning since grade 7.