Design (Thinking) Day in the Lower Schoo

Following the success of Design Day last spring, once again students and faculty in the Lower School employed the Design Thinking process developed at Stanford's D.school to the prompt, “Imagine you could create…”  Each grade level took on a different challenge, following the problem solving process of Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test:

    •    PreK – “Playhouses”
    •    Kindergarten – Transportation
    •    1st Grade – Tree House
    •    2nd Grade – Beautiful decorations for Thanksgiving
    •    3rd Grade – Design Your Own Game
    •    4th Grade - Secret Hiding Places
    •    5th Grade – Messages of Hope
    •   

Head of Lower School Sue Szczepkowski commented on the success of the day and the importance of the process in education, “Design Day is aimed at fully engaging students in design thinking processes in order to actualize their response to a need they see or a problem they want to solve,” said  “It is a highly active, creative experience for students and faculty.”

Design Thinking A Better Way to Play

In Upper School PE kids aren't only playing games, they are making them.  Using the Design Thinking process, Ginny Hofman's PE class took a look at how games get started and why and how they evolve. Students worked alone or in teams to craft their c=games including rules of play and how to teach it.  After playing the game, the students were able to Iterate new possibilities for play. Hofman reports, "It was amazing!  You could see the iteration process unfold as the games were playing - rules changed, as did scoring, and the play of the game itself. Creative play!"

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iPad MOOG Bass and Beat Box: New Methods for MS Senior Chorus

Lower School Young Engineers: Kids Teaching Kids

Upper school students under the direction of science teachers Jamie Anderson and Lisa Martin developed engineering curriculum for lower school students as part of their Kids Teaching Kids initiatives, a special teaching/learning opportunity where GA upper school students partner with kindergarten students to explore science.  For their first activity this year, the students collaborated to make Pocket Flashlights designed to explore basic circuitry.  Next up are kaleidoscopes!

Engineering Students Place in The Widener Mousetrap Competition

 

 Widener Mousetrap Competition

GA's new Upper school honors class in Engineering participated in the 30th annual Widener Mouse Trap Competition, where hundreds of high school students from throughout the mid-Atlantic region compete to build a mousetrap-powered device. Student teams are provided a design problem, a set of specifications and encouraged to learn and develop their skills of planning, design, and implementation — all while working in a team environment, as do practicing engineers.  Sponsored by Victor -a leader in rodent control solutions - where participants used Victor brand wooden mouse snap traps in order to create mouse trap-powered devices at the event. So how did GA's team do?  We placed 6th out of nearly 100 teams.