{"id":9499,"date":"2015-08-24T04:00:43","date_gmt":"2015-08-24T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/?p=9499"},"modified":"2017-04-18T16:16:21","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T23:16:21","slug":"lrng-passion-projects-encourage-creativity-connected-learning-and-stem-interests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/lrng-passion-projects-encourage-creativity-connected-learning-and-stem-interests\/","title":{"rendered":"LRNG: \u201cPassion Projects\u201d Encourage Creativity, Connected Learning, and STEM Interests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part of the fun of going to a carnival is doing the initial lap around the park to check out all of the booths and rides they have to offer. Deep-fried everything, bumper cars, the Gravitron\u2014your quest is to sample it all until you can eat no more (or your tickets run out). You probably didn\u2019t need three corn dogs, but the variance in activities makes for a better experience than just going on the Ferris wheel for hours. Liberty Elementary<\/a>, in Riverside, California, is bringing this idea inside and outside of the classroom, by building multi-themed learning stations for students to explore interests and produce \u201cpassion projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without having to leave the school campus, the LRNG Innovation Challenge<\/a> grant-winning team created several student-centered, hands-on learning spaces. In a\u00a0district that is working toward a personalized learning model, which emphasizes the importance of a student-centric approach over a teacher-driven one, teachers at Liberty Elementary\u00a0interviewed students to identify interest areas and learning styles, ensuring that the project would keep students excited and strengthen skill sets. With full support from other instructors and school administration, a resource teacher and the team leading literacy coach, Norma Rodriguez<\/a>, crafted and oversaw the project plan. As they gathered the information on student interests, Rodriguez also worked with teachers to match their personal interests and areas of expertise with the student activities.<\/p>\n

The results? A video production station, a maker station, and garden project. Additional interests also led to the creation of a still-developing computer science and coding club. These stations are used as \u201cpull out\u201d learning spaces for all students during the regular school day, with 300-400 students creating every week. \u201cThe engagement is beyond anything we would have imagined. It has been such a motivator for them,\u201d says Rodriguez. \u201cThey are thinking of the things they do outside of their classroom and how they can bring that knowledge inside the classroom. They are learning to apply those skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the project\u2019s initial run, the technology-centric stations were the main attraction. The green-screen station provided opportunities for students to learn video-making skills and use green-screen technology to create immersive advertisements for community events, research projects, and classroom reports.<\/p>\n