Metaphorical Imaginings

When a student is trying to explain a new concept, they can use an imaginative metaphor to describe it.

We are trying to create a Maker Culture in our classroom so we wanted to explore the concept of "culture." To support this learning, we used the metaphor of the cultural iceberg. The students were asked to represent their understanding of culture by creating their own metaphor, inspired by the iceberg.

Students began to understand that there is culture that is easily seen, heard and experienced above the surface. Some examples are food, language and festivals. They also learned that below the surface of the iceberg is a deeper understanding of culture with five categories of behaviours, attitudes, notions of, communication styles and concepts of.

Students were surprised to learn that they experience deeper culture but were not aware of it. They were delighted to be given language to share their understanding. They now wonder what they can do with this level of self-awareness and social-awareness. We all wonder what similarities and differences there are across cultures.

Cultural Forces

Hyper-Learning Community

Deeper Learning