The learners’ of AABC continue to soar to new heights! This week they tackled new challenges during quest time. On Monday they picked a question or topic to research about marine science. Some of the topics included natural disasters, the Marianas Trench, ocean life, and underwater volcanoes! During quest time the learners carefully planned their research by choosing what aspects of each topic they would research and how they would research their topic. On Friday they began investigating coral reefs and began planning their own paper coral reef.
This week also brought new surprises to the class. On Wednesday, we had a video call with Lauren who runs an animal sanctuary in the Hudson Valley. The students took turns asking her questions about the animals that lived their and why having an animal sanctuary is necessary. They even learned that there are a few animals that share names with their studio mates! They eagerly listened as Lauren talked about how the sanctuary rescues animals from dangerous and unsafe situations. During the duration of the call the students were introduced to some of the turkeys that live there and two of the sheep.
During morning launches discussions have revolved around understanding how to change a “fixed mindset” into a “growth mindset.” The students learned that keeping a fixed mindset will keep them stuck where they are, but transforming that into growth mindset would help them grow and move forward. Tuesday’s morning launches start off with current events. This week the students read an article about a group of mummies that were discovered in Egypt. After reading the article they had a discussion about the benefits of learning history and the different ways history can be learned.
Robotics this week focused on environmentally friendly structures as well as creating structures that are accessible for disabled people. Students who built with the Legos worked to build structures that would benefit the environment. Some students included water filters that could distribute cleaner and healthier water. Another idea was to build morning forests and gardens to provide more oxygen and fresh air in the area. The groups that worked with programming had to program a system that would make a door automatically open and passable for someone in a wheelchair.
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