The YMCA Academy Documentary

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, Experiential Learning, Student Spotlight, Technology

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Get the inside track on what happens at the YMCA Academy in this student-created documentary about the school, created by the 2012-2013 Grade 12 Communications Technology class.

The documentary features a tour of the school, a depiction of a “day in the life” of an Academy student, profiles of our green initiatives, details about extracurricular activities, and more. Conceived, planned, written, hosted, directed, shot, edited, and produced by YMCA Academy students, this project served as the culminating assignment in the Grade 12 Comm. Tech. course.

Authentic learning and experiential education is central to the Academy’s educational philosophy, says Andras Nagy, a teacher and the school’s technical analyst. “We like producing tangible work,” he says. “Getting the credit is important, but it’s even better when students see their work used for a real purpose.”

 

Nov 28th, 2013 – Gargoyle Glazing at the Gardiner

YMCA Academy Arts, Experiential Learning

The clay gargoyles made by students in the grade 11 media arts and grade 10 visual arts classes a few weeks back came out of the kiln intact (for the most part).  Students returned to the glorious clay studios at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art to apply coloured glazes to their pieces.  Once fired, they will be ready to be packaged, picked up and displayed at the Academy.  It’s been a rewarding and educational experience where students learned about the whole process of ceramic art and had the opportunity to work with two professional artists.  Stay tuned for photos of the final pieces!

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

Nov 18th, 2013 – Popsicle stick Catapults!

YMCA Academy Experiential Learning, Science and Math

Fire Away!

Learning about simple and compound machines and how they increase mechanical advantage to help us do work is pretty cool. Building a simple or compound machine and measuring its mechanical advantage, however, is awesome! The grade 12 physics class spent a period building catapults using Popsicle sticks, rubber bands, tape, alligator clips and a spoon. Once their catapults where built, they measured the mechanical advantage they had.


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

Nov 15th, 2013 – Kensington Market Trip

YMCA Academy Arts, Experiential Learning

The 4th period Visual Arts and Media Arts classes visited Kensington Market last Friday to view the work of multi-disciplinary artist Moses Kofi. The students checked out Moses’ dynamic outdoor installation of ‘Robot Alien’ sculptures made of found and donated metal materials. Moses  shared his techniques, approach and his view of art making in society. The budding artists also had the opportunity to visit Moses’ dynamic studio space and see a demo of the artist at work.  Lots of “oohs” and “ahhs” and the opportunity to see street art in process.

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Nov. 6th, 2013 – A Place to Stand

YMCA Academy Experiential Learning, Science and Math

Archimedes (of Eureka fame) provided explanations of how levers worked and is purposed to have said, “Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world.” But what is a lever and how does it provide mechanical advantage? The grade 12 physics class set out to find out by performing a lab to answer the questions (1) What class of lever is a door, and (2) how does the length of the effort arm in a lever system affect the lever’s mechanical advantage? With just a tape measure, post it notes, their index fingers and their minds, they set up their experiments and pushed their way to the answers.