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Inspiring Life-Long Learners, Big and Small
Learning isn’t just for the little ones at The Wilson School. Wilson’s faculty and trustees jumped right into their own learning this academic year with a special evening session on the first night of school with Professor Edward Hess, author of “Learn or Die: Using Science to Build a Leading-Edge Learning Organization.” In his presentation […]
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Upper School Retreat: Setting The Tone For The Year
One of the oldest and most enduring traditions at Powhatan is the Upper School Retreat. A wonderful event that encourages teamwork and collaboration through two days worth of fun and sometimes challenging events, it is an experience that bonds classmates and teachers alike. “It sets the tone for the year,” says Ann Robb, Upper School […]
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STEAM Project Turns “Paradise Lost” into Innovative Exploration
When sophomores at Stone Ridge School begin their foray into John Milton’s Paradise Lost, a unique STEAM project encourages their scientific exploration and inquiry in a cross-disciplinary context — “something like Satan on the brink of the Abyss embarking on his own epic journey,” says Upper School English teacher Stephany Fontanone. In this lesson, traditional […]
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New Partnership Means the Sky’s the Limit as Girls Develop Drones
Last fall, a group of Foxcroft School students were the only all-girls’ team to participate in the Kashmir World Foundation’s (KWF) Da Vinci Drone Challenge, part of a worldwide initiative to develop unmanned aerial vehicles to help save endangered species from poachers. They learned the fundamental components and electronics of remotely operated aerial vehicles, built […]
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Real-World Projects Spark Girls’ Interest in Science
How do middle schoolers at St. Catherine’s School engage in design thinking and experience the engineering process? One example is by learning to build underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). In coordination with their Robotics Genius Hour curriculum, and utilizing the school’s innovative maker spaces, girls gain hands-on experience with tools, electrical circuits, and switches as […]
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Thinking Outside The Box
Riverdale Country School is constructing a new classroom building on its Lower School campus so students will be “camping out” in temporary units this year. Temporary but not ordinary. Using creative design and input from the students, Riverdale has turned the Learning Complex into a fun and funny place to learn. The students may never […]
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Milton Hershey School: On the Cutting-Edge of Cancer Research
While students around the state are spending their days sleeping in and relaxing, rising Milton Hershey School senior Lucas Sproule is participating in an internship at the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute and setting a course for his future. It’s a personal endeavor for the student who lost his grandmother to kidney cancer. “I have […]
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Emerging Leader Program with The Hershey Company
When MHS senior Ethan Stratton shops, he looks at products differently than most other consumers. That’s because he spent his summer interning with the Marketing and Sales Department of The Hershey Company. “I’m seeing how a company markets and sells their product, and everything that goes into it. My mentors here are building on what […]
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New “Innovation Station” Will Put Creative Thinking into Action
This fall, students will return to Ranney School, an Age 3-Grade 12 independent school in Tinton Falls, with a physical space to execute their most innovative and creative ideas. The new “Innovation Station” is modeled after the “Dream Labs,” “Fab Labs,” and “MakerSpaces” that have been popping up across the country since 2005 as part […]
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Pre-Schoolers, Teachers Collaborate in Design Thinking
Emily is wide-eyed with concentration as she skillfully handles an electric screwdriver. There’s a squeal of delight when Olivia completes a circuit. There are the inevitable groans from the class as a tall tower collapses and needs to be built yet again. These are the everyday sights and sounds of excited preschoolers in McGehee School’s […]
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An Interdisciplinary Project Goes Global
In an elective, Mark Day School Upper Division students learned that engineering the right product means respecting the process and really listening to your users. In fall 2014, “tinkerer in residence” David St. Martin presented the 7th and 8th grade students in his fabrication class with statistics about the impact of inefficient cooking stoves on […]
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Minecraft at Iolani
‘Iolani School teacher Gabriel Yanagihara is combining popular technology with traditional studies, and he is changing the landscape of learning for his students. Required reading is no longer just that- in Minecraft classes, students recreate the physical layout of a book within the game, as well as build new communities, explore space, and join the […]