Designing a product for a specific client is an incredibly rich and multi-layered learning experience. In addition to leveraging skills like solution seeking, critical thinking, connecting, communicating and innovating, to ensure the clients needs are met, attributes like empathy, adaptability and creativity are key contributors to success. In Digital Woodworking, an Upper School Maker, Design…
Grade 5 students are known as the “Leaders of the Lower School.” Starting with questions like, “How can we make an impact on our Lower School community through leadership?” Grade 5 students discover what leadership and impact looks like through this flagship Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) unit. Through collaboration, communication, creative thinking, ethical decision-making, and solution-seeking,…
At Mount Vernon, we believe children have big ideas, and when teachers really know their students’ curiosities and passions, incredible things can happen. Incredible things like starting businesses, creating non-profit organizations, and launching new products. Although there are countless stories daily that reflect student ingenuity, we wanted to spotlight a few examples of MV students…
Grade 6 students are diving deep into the concept of sustainability. Since the beginning of the year, students have explored how weather and natural disasters can affect a city, how to build earthquake-resistant homes, design sustainable food production networks, develop recycling policies, explore alternative energy sources, and more. This interdisciplinary unit leveraged Edtech tools including…
How might we develop community and belonging in Middle School? Community time in Middle School is an opportunity for students to hear their peers’ stories and lean into each other’s knowledge and backgrounds. It’s also a time to reinforce Mount Vernon’s mindsets and values as part of a collective commitment to meeting the mission. To…
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iProject Mini is off to an impressive start. Since the last update, Grades 3 – 5 students have formed groups based on their expressed interests and have progressed into the individual steps in completing their group objectives. On Thursday, topic teams chatted with an MVXpert – parent, grandparent, alum, or other connection brought in to…
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Contributed by the Innovation Diploma Team A signature experience for students during their first year in Innovation Diploma is hosting a dinner. This experience allows learners to get a full lap through the Design Brief Framework while also experiencing the Gold Standard PBL (project-based learning). During the third mod, Upper School Innovation Diploma teachers Larisa…
At the beginning of the School year, Dr. Jacobsen spoke to the Mount Vernon community at Convocation about bridges, specifically around how they are able to connect people and places. Through that, he encouraged us all to be connectors this year – to close gaps, to remove the space between one side and another, thus connecting people…
Read More from Building Bridges to Opportunity: Interim Internships