This is my favorite time of year. Halloween (my favorite holiday), we enjoyed a brief cold front, and we all get to come together with our families and friends for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.
This is also my favorite time of year because it is when our students really get to take their inquiry projects to the next level. They have already chosen a topic that interests them and will help them learn more about communication and problem solving.
It is so impressive to watch what happens when you trust students with the freedom to choose. When done right, they don’t take the easy route. Like Liam for example. He wants to tackle the problem of food deserts by designing a train that could use existing train tracks to deliver fresh food.
Once our kids have identified their topic of choice, then they get to work on learning how to ensure the resources they use to gather information come from a valid source. This is not easy and is time consuming, but one of the most important lessons they will learn as a part of this process. Ask Eva, who found a lot of articles about her topic, but refused to use them unless she knew they passed the test of being a valid resource with flying colors. In addition to gathering information from online resources, books, and documentaries, we have practiced crafting high quality questions since the beginning of the year and have made a list of questions we want to ask an expert. Several weeks ago we role-played how to greet and interview professionals in our community so that we are ready for those who answer our call for help.
We are so incredibly lucky to live in a community where the professionals care about our children and are willing to take time out to listen to our kids and share their knowledge. For example, Quinn wanted to dig deep into the history of our language and a better understanding of why some languages are going extinct. So he reached out to two professors at USF who study linguistics. Dr. Judith Bridges & Dr. Brandon Tullock answered his request.
Eva wanted to interview someone who specializes in book selections to help people solve the challenges they face with mental health through books at her favorite book store, Tombolo. Thank you Amanda Hurley for not only answering her questions, but giving her a tour and helping her pick a book to add to her collection.
Clementine interviewed Denise Dupree at Thank You Mama to learn more about herbal medicine and energetics.
Gracie interviewed Julie Halley who has a degree in Gerontology and can help her understand how to solve the problem of socialization to improve the quality of life for the elderly in our community. The Carrington Place is also welcoming our entire cohort to come in and spend time with their elderly residents, while Gracie interviews Cathy who is in charge of making sure all of their residents get the socialization they need.
Two of our students were able to interview engineers as a part of a larger experience for the entire school, an aerospace engineer, Bev Sturgis and two electrical engineers, John Knighton & Todd Whitaker and Michael Spytek who worked closely with engineers bringing communication solutions to those in need. He actually started his company by solving the problem of an entire community having their ability to communicate wiped out by a hurricane.
We were also fortunate enough to be able to take our entire cohort to meet Harris Ambush with Sol Relief and how they are using planes, one of Sebastian’s favorite subjects, to help the victims of Hurricane Ian. I feel so incredibly lucky to live in a community full of people who truly care about our kids, their future, and the future of St. Petersburg, walking the talk and sharing their expertise with our future leaders who just so happen to attend Indi-ED, where we reimagine education for a better tomorrow.
