Hands-on Engaging Learning at eVenture
This video highlights the weeklong entrepreneurship experience called eVenture offered for many years by the founders of LVenture. It was the first time most participants had ever come up with their own idea and developed it in their way. Most had great trouble getting started because they are accustomed to being told exactly what to do. However, they develop a confidence and understanding of themselves that is truly transforming.
This video shows how students progress and transform during the week.
This video captures what one reviewer and several students say about their experience.
For more information, see charterpartnersinstitute.org/programs/eventure.
The Future Project
The Future Project gives kids an opportunity to create something or solve a problem of their own choice under their own direction, pursuing their own dream. This is usually an after school activity or a designated period. A “Dream Director” trained by the project is normally hired to manage the program full time, creating excitement and constantly reinforcing each student. Students are often assigned individual mentors in addition.
See what students say about their experience as a dreamer.
For more information, see www.thefutureproject.org.
Maker Spaces or Programs
Maker Spaces are a popular way to give kids of any age the opportunity to physically create something they imagine. The activity can involve anything from simple paper, sticks, and glue to 3D printers. While the concept can form the basis of a broader project-based approach to learning, it is also fairly easy to implement as a limited program. This video shows a Maker Space summer program created within the Albamarle County School District in Virginia.
Studio H Design/Build Class
Studio H, a design/build class at REALM Charter School in Berkeley, California, was founded by Emily Pilloton. She gives participants the confidence to use a wide variety of tools and turn vision into working products. The act of making is a powerful, life-altering force for both students and their broader communities. In 2013, when Studio H middle-school students told her that REALM needed a library, she and her colleagues had them design and build it themselves, starting with unique X-shaped shelving units that formed the basis of a successful Kickstarter campaign—which raised enough money for building materials, books, periodicals, and digital subscriptions. Pilloton says these types of maker projects are the beginning of “changing who gets to make the world.”