Discovery Year 7. Session 6. Week 4.
This week in Discovery, learners explored electricity, invention, and innovation through hands-on experiments, writing, collaboration, and discussion.
Quest
Last week, the Menlo Park Lab scientists investigated the flow of electricity with circuits. This week, they looked at how electricity is stored and generated, experimenting with electromagnetism, batteries, and energy stored in our food.
Learners continued to wrestle with failure and frustration. Experiments didn’t always work, and the scientists practiced their response to those failures. During Wednesday’s electromagnetic doorbell challenge, learners tried all kinds of combinations to achieve the goal – still, no one succeeded. On Friday, with fresh materials and fresh eyes, celebrations broke out around the studio as people began to succeed.
Feedback Loops
A major theme this week was feedback — the essential life skill of noticing what works, what doesn’t, and how to improve.
In Writers’ Workshop, learners practiced more peer critiques by giving each other warm and cool feedback on organization, transitions, and introductions. In Art, learners received final feedback on their individual puzzle pieces before starting to assemble the larger collaborative community puzzle next week, reinforcing the idea that individual work impacts the whole.
Learners also participated in Guide 360s, where they gave feedback directly to the guides about how well they balance being warm-hearted and tough-minded and how consistently they follow the Guide Contract. In Discovery, everyone in the community grows through feedback.
Even our unexpected move to the yurt because of a bird caught in the Discovery Studio created its own feedback loop. In the smaller space, noise and distractions affected everyone much more quickly, and learners experienced in real time how individual choices impacted the community.
Throughout the week, learners practiced one of the most important skills innovators need: listening, adjusting, and improving.
Next week, Discoverers start planning and preparing for the end of the session! They’ll edit and practice their pitches, consider heroes and callings in the fields on innovation and electrical engineering, and continue challenging themselves with their badge work.