On Friday, I was so pleased to be able to return to one of my favorite days of the year, High-Interest Day at Brookfield Elementary School. This is a day where I have been able to bring the concepts of physics to k-5 graders. You may be asking yourself, "Elementary students doing physics?" YES! Not just experimenting, but understanding the concepts behind the physics of electricity and sound. This is a very special day I have had the opportunity to be involved in since 2017. So, how are we able to bring the concepts of electricity and sound traditionally taught to high school 11th and 12th graders to the elementary level? There are a few keys 1) make it a hands-on experience 2) remove the mathematical calculations and make it practical. In the past, I had the luck of bringing a handful of my physics students with me to guide the elementary students through the concepts that they had learned over the course of the year. But in my new role as a Teaching and Learning Speciali
When I attended PBL world 4 years ago, I was introduced to the idea of a project exhibition night. A night for students to share their learning beyond the classroom and with the greater school community. It was a night that wasn’t for grading. It truly meant for sharing of work. This week, we held our 6th project expo night. This event was directly inspired by the ideas I heard at PBL world back in 2015. I am proud of a lot of things that I’ve been able to implement in my classroom, and this is near the top of the list. One of the main reasons is the simple visual that one will see when they walk into the expo. Students talking about their work to parents. Open houses and science fairs are things that I am used to seeing at the elementary level. At the high school level, parents are rarely invited to events. Outside of athletics, these events tend to be performances by the arts. The other event the parents attend to learn about academic performance is parent teacher conferences. We