The Football Project
In the Football project, students evaluate the efficiency of the teams of the most popular sport in America using self-generated algebraic expressions. The end goal is to use math to predict the outcome of future games. Academic skills & content: Writing and Evaluating Algebraic Expressions, Making predictions based on statistical data. The statistics from the […]
The Manual Cinema Project
In the Manual Cinema Project students made Cinematic Shadow Plays that use old-fashioned overhead projectors to tell stories about local historical landmarks that students researched for another project earlier in the year. The inspiration for this project is rooted in the collaborative methods developed by the Chicago-based performance collective called Manual Cinema. Key […]
Stars In The Parks
In light of the recent National Park closures, students explored how people use parks to connect to themselves, each other, and to nature. Students used the design thinking process to create a product that preserved and enhanced a local, state, or national park. They visited various parks to do field work for their products as […]
Bias-Busting Obstacles
In the Bias Busting Obstacles project secondary students learn how human brains and historical context predispose us to be biased against those who are different– and how, through reflection, education, and activism, we can elect to change. Their learning culminates in an exhibition, for which students design, build, and curate a bias-busting obstacle course. The goal […]
The Mathematics of Risk
We make choices that balance risks and rewards everyday. Some of these choices are small. In a soccer game, you might choose how to wrestle the ball away from your opponent. Other choices are larger and deal with our health, relationships, the environment, and finances. When making these decisions, we weigh the potential risks and […]
The Pull Toy Project
In the Pull Toy project, students created a pull toy to exhibit during our Annual Pull Toy Parade. The pull toy needed to be designed so that a gear mechanism attached to the wheels would make another part of the pull toy move (such as a wagging tail, flapping wings, or a nodding head). As […]
Water Woes
In the Water Woes Project, Davis Middle School students investigated local drinking water quality, after learning that local residents complained of brown, smelly water coming from their taps. These teachers and students investigated this as a project in their 7th grade Science, English, and History classes. Academic Skills and Content: Proper scientific data collection and […]
El Noticiero Escolar
In the El Noticiero Escolar project students formed an editorial committee for their own newsroom, and researched and reported on three themes: one investigative report (expository writing), one opinion piece on a topic of their choice (persuasive writing), and one book review for their final publication. Throughout project students conducted Close Reading and Analysis of […]
Ultimate Transformation
In the Ultimate Transformation project students researched a key figure from the Renaissance and a key modern individual. Students came up with an adjective which connected all three individuals together, including themselves. Final Products: Students created an art piece depicting significant images to represent the three individuals, along with a central image and the connecting […]
Celebrating Culture Through Food
In the “Celebrating Culture through Food” project Students created a cookbook with other classmates with recipes that were derived from their own culture. Each recipe showed the correct proportions in order to feed a crowd. Students connected with the history and culture of the food, studying its nutritional values and its physical and mental effects […]
Building a Better Classroom
In the “Building a Better Classroom” project Students are charged with the task of researching, creating, and presenting the ways in which classrooms are set-up within schools. Final Product: The project’s final product culminates with a “shark tank” presentation to stakeholders within the school community in which students must pitch their ideas through the use […]
Saving Earth’s Endangered Elements
In the Saving Earth’s Endangered Elements project seventh grade science students researched the natural resources found within their cell phones and other electronic devices and created infographics to display their work. They utilized real-world data to understand the formation and distribution of these natural resources around the globe. By investigating human use and human impact […]
The Face of America
In “The Face of America” students examined the movement of people into the United States through a political, cultural, and personal lens. They analyzed the current discourse about immigration in the US, grappled with immigration myths, looked at motivations for movement across borders, traced border policy throughout history, and collected stories of immigration in our […]