The world is changing faster than ever, and teachers face the incredible challenge of preparing students for a future full of opportunities and obstacles. That's why we're putting a spotlight on innovation. Innovative thinking empowers the next generation to tackle anything that comes their way.

Big problems are daunting, so addressing them is all about breaking them down into more manageable elements. Solutions often come from fruitful conversations with others, learning from others, or having the courage to propose something new. The best part is that innovation can create opportunity where you once thought there wasn’t any.

One of the easiest examples of innovation to share is the proliferation of green energy in recent years. Here in B.C. we get the majority of our energy from the natural movement of rivers. And around the world, people are harvesting energy from the sun, wind, and the tides—something that would seem like magic not so long ago. These solutions aren’t perfect and come with their own problems, but they give us options to harness natural energy sources with less emissions.  

Students must learn that they are just as capable as anyone to innovate. To help encourage innovative thinking, we’re developing resources to encourage these discussions in your classroom. Read on to learn about our latest Innovation-focused content.

Innovation activities on Power Smart for Schools

Until now, activities on the Power Smart for Schools website have appeared under five topic categories: Conservation, Electricity, Energy, Safety, and Sustainability. These topics represent an intersection of BC Hydro’s priorities or areas of expertise and some of the most vital subjects to engage youth with.

We recently added Innovation as the sixth topic category of activities on the Power Smart for Schools website. We’ve reorganized some of our existing activities under this topic, and we have a series of activity units on the way which will cover innovative thinking for all grade levels.

We’re proud that BC Hydro is an innovative utility provider—from customer programs like Peak Saver that help manage our energy capacity, to our award-winning EV charging network, to our evolving work on hundreds of projects around the province. Incorporating innovative thinking is important in what we do, and future generations will need innovative thinking to solve many challenges in energy and beyond.

New activity units about innovation are on the way. They will help to break the innovative process down into approachable steps to think, discuss, and solve. Read on to learn about our first new unit.

Workplace safety innovation unit for Grades 10-12

Our first new innovation-focused unit is live. It features three activities which together lead students through the process of identifying problems and then designing solutions that address them.

The three new activities are:

• Rank the risks: Workplace safety — Introduce students to common workplace hazards and help them assess and prioritize risks using criteria and evidence.
• Risk to resilience: Science driven workplace safety — Explore how scientific ideas can be applied to understand hazards and inform design-based strategies to improve workplace safety.
• Safety by design: In the workplace — Guide students to develop early design actions or prototypes that use science and design thinking to reduce hazards and enhance workplace safety.

As always, these activities are curriculum-aligned so that you can cover key lessons while engaging in a thoughtful exercise in both safety and innovative design.

Check it out and add the activities to your lesson plan today.

Our latest blog story on hooves and a bright solar idea 

The latest story on the Power Up Blog shares an example of innovative problem-solving from Dead Horse Creek Ranch in Fort St. John, B.C. Owner Bo Hedges needed to find a better way to give water to his cattle, who would risk injury reaching natural water sources while also contaminating nearby riparian areas. The solution turned out to be fairly simple, using solar powered fences and buggies to keep cows out of these riskier areas and drawing clean water into carts for them to drink.

Stories like this one demonstrate how thoughtful designs can address existing problems and lead to much better outcomes. Consider sharing this story or taking inspiration from its elements to challenge your students to come up with thoughtful ideas to address problems in the community. The solution often isn’t complicated, it just takes inspiration or draws from knowledge gained by discussing problems with others.

The article includes thoughts on innovative thinking and a list of relevant resources from our site. Check it out and inspire lessons in your classroom.