TED Talks, Book Publishing, AI, Design Thinking & More...Session 6: Year 5, Week 24 In Review
TED Talks, Book Publishing, AI, Design Thinking & More
Check out this week’s updates…
spark studio
Weekly News from the Spark Book Nook: We are off and writing this session like we never missed a beat!
Our dinosaur tale from the last session seems to have carried over into this session. The stars have aligned, and learners are now wanting to illustrate the story. What if we turn it into a book? It leaves us wondering, how? Where do we start? Thanks to our first expert, Tyson McAdoo, for starting us off in the right direction. He shared his expertise and creative mind with us. It was a lot of fun seeing what his son’s morning was like through a gigantic comic strip all in black & white except for two hints of orange. We then took on a challenge to create our very own comic strip. When you set learners free to capture what’s in their minds, it’s truly “awe” inspiring, and the outcome is always full of eye-opening and heart-felt enlightenment.
Our journey into “The Land of the Parts of Speech” is just beginning. One learner is even reading the dictionary (this is so rich). As guides, we ask, “what did you learn from the dictionary today?” Leading us to, “I wonder what the longest word in the dictionary is?”
It appears birthday season has arrived, and the love we share can be felt all around us. Cheers to the upcoming age shifters. We love celebrating each other.
Things are “eggs”actly as they should be for this upcoming spring season. We have eggs in the incubator. We are on a journey and the discovery of the life cycle of a chicken. Yes, you read that right … baby chicks are coming soon. Stay tuned for the latest updates.
elementary studio
Session 6 is off to a great start!
During Story Arts, heroes are creating their very own children’s books that will be published later this session. How amazing will it be to become a published author?
In Civilization, we are learning how the East met the West as we begin to look at the trade routes of early explorers. While thinking about early explorers, we will take a look at woman’s roles during this time and celebrate achievements during March in celebration of Women's History month.
Finally, what does it take to think like an engineer? Design Thinking! This session’s Quest will dive into the design thinking process as heroes empathize with our Spark studio heroes, guides, and families to create an outdoor classroom for our new building!
We’ve got some exciting new adventures on the horizon!
middle school studio
Welcome to the second to last session of the school year.
As a developing learners, some weeks can be overwhelming and challenging. But sometimes there are weeks that are just plain successful. This week was one of those weeks for the learners. They tackled different topics: AI, honesty, Ted Talks, and different writing techniques, such as hyphens and semi-colons. Each of these challenged them in different ways, and the learners came out of the week feeling accomplished and proud of what they had learned.
The Studio started the week by learning about AI, i.e. artificial intelligence. They learned about what AI is, how it works, and its many uses in today's world. Furthermore, the Studio also learned about the ethical concerns surrounding AI, such as the potential loss of jobs and the possibility of machines becoming too intelligent for humans to control. It was fascinating to learn about the potential benefits and risks of AI and to see how this technology is already being used in our daily lives.
Next, heroes moved on to the character trait of honesty. We talked about what it means to be honest, why it's important, and the consequences of dishonesty. We also discussed how honesty is related to trust and how important it is to maintain trust in relationships. Through various activities and discussions, they were able to reflect on their own behaviors and how we can improve their honesty in their personal and academic lives.
Finally, for Story Arts, they ended the week by dissecting a Ted Talk. We watched a thought-provoking talk on a topic that was new to many of us, and we learned how to break it down into its main points and arguments. We discussed how the speaker used rhetorical strategies to persuade the audience and how we can use these same strategies in our own presentations and speeches. This exercise helped us to better understand the art of public speaking and how to effectively communicate our own ideas. Overall, this week was a success for the Studio!
high school studio
Almost to the finish line, only 2 more sessions to go!
We jumped straight into flow with Khan. Many learners are narrowing down the year this session, and all that is left for them is to get 100% in Khan and complete their proof of mastery badge.
Next, we introduced Story Arts, igniting our creativity. In this session, heroes will become published authors or public speakers! They will spend the next 6 weeks writing a book of their choice or creating Ted Talks on ideas of their choosing. Buckle up for creativity!
For Quest, we are bringing back the famous Murder Mystery Dinner Quest! But, before then, we will take the first half of Quest to focus on death, grief, and bereavement. The overarching question is "Do we have a clue on how to deal with death? Are we prepared for the death of our caretakers and take over operations if needed? Can we help or comfort anyone else with bereavement or are we just as lost as them?” Then we will move into the planning of our Murder Mystery.
Lastly, for Civilization, we will play off of the information learned with death and take it to another level- the afterlife. We will study the many religions of the world and their belief in the afterlife...eventually leading us to find our own beliefs in the afterlife.