Discovery Year 7. Session 6. Week 1.
Discoverers came back to campus this week with intentionality and focus.
Quest
This week in Quest, Discoverers officially stepped into Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park Laboratory to begin a six-week journey into innovation and electricity. The learners will operate as Edison’s assistants, working in teams to tackle electricity challenges while managing the business side of science by tracking material costs and applying for patents to earn points.
Teams are already deep in hands-on work—designing and building their own water wheels to explore how energy transfers from potential to kinetic. The lab this week was filled with experimentation, iteration, and problem-solving as learners tested designs, made adjustments, and documented their thinking.
Writers’ Workshop
In this session’s Writers’ Workshop, Discoverers jumped into a new challenge: pitching a field trip.
After analyzing a real-world pitch, they began brainstorming and researching field trip ideas within real constraints, like distance, cost, and time. This week focused on generating and researching ideas, thinking about audience and persuasion, and organizing information into a clear structure.
Socratic Discussions
This week’s discussions pushed learners to wrestle with complex ideas about freedom, responsibility, and purpose.
Inspired by the story of Harriet Tubman, learners considered, “when does a calling stop feeling like a choice and start feeling like a responsibility?”
Later in the week, they explored a different kind of challenge: ambiguity. In self reflection, they were asked to decide if they preferred challenges with clear instructions, or challenges with the freedom to make their own solution.
These conversations continue to equip Discoverers for the work ahead, where they will keep navigating uncertainty, taking risks, and adapting.
We’re excited to have the learners back on campus after the break!