Students are not the only learners in the GEMS Innovation lab.  This spring a group of teachers began a course that was focused on exploring virtual reality tools and expanding our concept of how they could be used to support teaching and learning. Although we all received support from FWSU Digital Learning Coach, Angelique Fairbrother, another focus of the class was the use of technology as a tool for independent learning.  Each participant needed to document and share their learning in order to earn a Digital Promise Micro-credential. 

Read more about the Class on  the FWSU Blog 

Mr. Hadd's work was focused on use of the 360 degree camera and creating virtual tours.  Check out the prototype tour of the GEMS Innovation Lab below!  It was made with a RICOH 360 degree camera and Google Tour Creator VR.  

During Block 2 the Innovation Lab and Middle School Art Program offered a 3d design class. To learn more about the class, check out this post on the FWSU Blog!  The gallery below shows many of the projects either in progress or recently completed as well as some other pictures taken during the course of the block. The project  asked students to design and create in 3d to raise awareness of one of more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.  Awesome work! 

Reaching Out On Technology and Science (ROOTS) is an annual event held at Champlain College for middle school students in Northwestern Vermont.   Students have an opportunity to visit the Champlain College Campus and explore topics such as Game Design, Digital Forensics, Cyber Security, and Cryptography. This year GEMS was offered 12 slots at the ROOTS event and we brought a great group of 6th and seventh graders for an amazing day of learning and exploration.  

The sixth grade focus group has been working on circuits with LED bulbs to explore the creative possibilities of light. In this project each student created and decorated an origami water bomb (no water) to illuminate! The skills used for this task will be important as they move onto their final project. Circuitry, soldering,  origami, 3d Printing, and  laser cutting will all be options! 

Our Game design class has used a new collaborative workflow process this year with amazing results. Much of the direct instruction has been done through video tutorials allowing each student to work at their own  pace. In addition, students have been given new tools to plan the story of their game and perfect the game mechanics. Finally, we have required all games to be vetted by two game testers before publication. The results have been impressive and we have published an online arcade to share these games with the world. 

This year in the Digital Content Creation Class animation was a popular choice for student projects. Below are two student work samples  along with a little information about the software used to make them. Enjoy!

Pivot - An animator that uses stick figures and allows the user to move line segments along "hinges" or pivot points for speedy animation creation. 

Pencil - An animator that uses freestyle drawing.  The tool works like a basic paint program, but users can create whatever they want. 

​Why are k-cups a problem hare at GEMS and in the world?

"They are a problem because you can't recycle them easily so we took them apart to figure out how to use them."

"They are  just a very big waste and you can only compost some of the parts."
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"They are not environment friendly and cant be recycled all together, caucusing waste."

"The plastic cup part is not compostable or recyclable."

"The K-cups are not recyclable after being used so they get thrown away. This is not safe for the environment.
They are wasteful."

How did you formulate a plan to solve the problem here at GEMS?
"We had a group brain storm and we built things to make the process go faster."

"We brain stormed a plan on what to do with each part of the k cups, and we formulated different tools to help us do so."

"We made a system to take a k-cup apart to be used in other ways that is not the trash."

"As a team we decided to make a tool that helped when cleaning the K-cup. Two to three people would work in a group that would focus on K-cups in a different way."

Was your solution effective? 
"Yes it was effective, because we had a quite easy job on cleaning the k-cups and creating different uses for them, and what we could do with each part of them. What we could not reuse was composted or recycled."

"I think that it was very effective, and recycling the k-cups was fast and took minimal effort."

​"Yes it was effective because we got 396 k-cups and we made a lot of crafts."

"Yes. We came up with about 400 k cups, throughout three weeks of hard work and designing. We also made different things with them."

​Could the solution be used elsewhere? Could all k-cups be recycled? 

"Yes, if we could find a place that could combine the grounds into fertilizer and we could have the plastic melted into different objects, recycle the tin foil and the filters could be composted. This could save our landfills from overflowing with k cups and would help with keeping landfills in check by recycling."
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I think that it could definitely be used elsewhere. If enough people were willing to participate, then they could be recycled.

"Yes, but that would mean that every one would have to lend a hand to the project to make boxes and also to collect dissemble and clean."

​"We found a way so that each part of the k cup could be used for something in a useful way."

​What have you learned from this project in terms of problem solving, team work, or k-cup waste and recycling?

"I learned that Little things that we use in every day life style can have a big thing in waste problems."

"When you work as a team, projects get done faster and more efficiently."

"I have learned that people can solve most problems by putting their heads together and finding out a solution."

"I learned that if we work as a team we can get many things accomplished."
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"I learned that you sometimes have to work with people you find annoying and k-cups are super wasteful."

As our Prototyping and Inventing class winds down, we wanted to post some of the great work students have been doing. You can read more about our class in this FWSU Blog post.  In the video below, a student discusses the idea of multiple iterations in the inventing process. This understanding is central to the class. The other video shows one of the 3d printing breakthroughs, a coin cell battery holder. Also browse the gallery of student work! 

This week our Prototyping and Inventing students were busy using Makey Makey kits to control their programming creations. Many of the project were coded in Scratch, but some students were able to build on a previous Innovation Lab experience and use Game Maker Studio. 

The projects are a perfect combination of coding and physical building and wiring. The Makey Makey allows students control their creation by physically touching objects they have chosen, built, or modified. Think of it like creating your own video game controller! Inventing with Makey Makey was our last activity before we launch our open ended inventing challenge this week! 

Self-direction is one of the identified transferable skills that Vermont schools have been charged with addressing with all students across all settings. So what does it mean to be self-directed?  Self-directed learners continually set goals and adjust their approach to meet them. They access resources and assistance independently and maintain the focus needed for sustained work with minimal redirection. It is easy to understand why these skills are so valuable in every setting imaginable. Students who build good skills in self-direction not only achieve academically, but also become the type of employees, managers, and leaders today's economy demands. In Fact, of the qualities employers most want when hiring, almost all are closely related to self direction.  

​Self-direction will always be an important skill in the Innovation Lab and we are continually exploring new ways to build and strengthen these skills in our learners.  We have already seen some success this year. We have certified some students to use equipment independently, created video tutorials for self-paced learning, and structured learning opportunities in which every student has an opportunity to choose a project and set their own work goals. 

As the year goes on, we will collect data and student work to help gauge the progress of our program as it relates to self-direction and other transferable skills.  Self-direction is is easily assessed through observation. What does it look like? Check out the pictures below!