California Dreaming

Two EcoSchool educators traveled to San Francisco for an incredible experience: the Brightworks Summer Institute!

The Brightworks Institute brought together a cohort of 15 educators, leaders and innovators from across the world. The program was designed to provide the opportunity to learn and collaborate just like the students do in their programs. Over the course of 3 mornings, we were challenged to design a habitat for life on Mars. This required research, imagination, collaboration, and innovation. Our afternoons were spent reflecting on the experiences and understanding planning, assessment and documentation from the perspective of the educator guide.

Project Time at Brightworks

STEP 1: THE ARC

The Arc is the keyhole through which a project is imagined. This theme will carry the entire school through the semester. The Arc will bring entirely different meaning to each ‘band’ or class in the school.

Each Spring, the entire school collaborates and considers what would make good Arcs for the following school year. Of 6 choices, students will provide compelling reasons to choose the best 2 Arcs. The 2 chosen Arcs for the coming year are announced at the celebration at the end of the school year.

This is an example of the high school expression project for the Monster arc. They created a quilt of each of their interpretations of “What is a monster in America?”

STEP 2: EXPLORATION

The first several weeks of the semester focus on Exploration of the Arc. For our project, Life on Mars, exploration focused around play with bubbles, physical manipulation of vessels and volume, and research books about Mars. The Spark Arc inspired exploration into many different types of energy and visits with experts. The Rainbow Arc sent students on field trips into the community.