Creative Inquiry

The Creative Inquiry department offers several courses designated with a “CI” prefix, each of which structure a different kind of educational experience we call an “inquiry.” Between the various options available, Creative Inquiry can support and facilitate creative action in just about whatever form it may take.

List of 3 items.

Student Projects
In CI, students can, for example, construct
- a material craft, such as an engine or a piece of furniture;
- a digital craft, such as a website or an app; or
- a piece of media, such as a newspaper, a video, or a radio broadcast.
They can also
- produce a piece of fine art like a play, a film, or a symphony;
- create an organization that promotes a cause they believe in; or
- stage an event that raises awareness around an issue of social justice.
The direction or end product of creative action matters less than the experience of taking genuine responsibility for a meaningful endeavor. This experience, we believe, serves as the greatest teacher.
Pre-Inquiry Experiences

In addition to CI courses, Creative Inquiry facilitates and supports experiences that help younger students build up to an inquiry experience, which students generally undertake in their junior and senior year. These experiences include various clubs, teams, organizations, and no-block classes in which students of any grade can participate. Examples include: SHP’s FIRST Robotics Team, the Sacred Heart Blacksmith Guild, and the several student media organizations.
Interdisciplinary Activities
Ultimately, Creative Inquiry strives to be a nucleus for collaborative, creative action on campus and thus extends department course offerings. Academic classes from the traditional disciplines make use of the CI Lab to enrich learning experiences.

In the past year, for example:
- Marine Biology classes have partnered with Creative Inquiry to build Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) for underwater exploration,
- English classes to facilitate film projects, and
- Latin classes to build Roman Chariots.
In addition, in January 2016 the SHP "Design Lab for Innovation in Teaching" was formed to offer a space for interdisciplinary creative collaboration and promote innovations in pedagogy.

Fabrication

CI’s fabrication program facilitates a wide range of creative work, from traditional craft such as carpentry and blacksmithing to modern fabrication endeavors such as 3D printing and robotics.

CI’s fabrication program facilitates a wide range of creative work, from traditional craft such as carpentry and blacksmithing to modern fabrication endeavors such as 3D printing and robotics. In the past year, students in CI’s fabrication program have built a vintage-style Shelby Cobra from the ground up, surfboards, and prosthetic limbs using our 3D printer. The program lives in our fabrication workshop, the DREAM Lab, which serves as a resource for academic classes as well as inquiry students. SHP’s Robotics Team, which excels in FIRST Robotics competitions and tech challenges, makes its home CI’s fabrication program, as well.

Media

CI’s media program comprises five distinct student-led media organizations that produce content for the Sacred Heart community.

CI’s media program incorporates five distinct student-led media organizations that create media for the Sacred Heart community. The Heart Beat publishes the school newspaper, The Yearbook publishes the yearbook, KSHS produces regular radio programming, SHPTV does the same for television/video programming, and SHP Quad curates an online media platform. Senior leaders of each organization enroll in an inquiry course entitled "CI: Media Leadership," but students of every grade collaborate in production through enrollment in a no-block class called "Journalism and Media."

Social Entrepreneurship

CI’s social entrepreneurship program facilitates opportunities for students who, for lack of a better phrase, want to create justice.

CI’s social entrepreneurship program facilitates opportunities for students who, for lack of a better phrase, want to create justice. Students have designed socially conscious businesses, enacted mentorship programs, and most notably, led SHP’s year-long social justice teach-in. In every case, students employ the methodologies of design thinking and of our own Catholic tradition to create organizations, institutional reforms, and change that make the world a better place.