Lower Schoolers Showcase Impact of 21st-Century Learning
Parents everywhere appreciate seeing evidence of their children’s learning through the artwork, essays, or completed projects they bring home. But a single finished product doesn’t fully capture the journey of inquiry, discussion, and critical thinking that leads a student to newfound understanding.
Thanks to Lower School’s emphasis on student-led sharing and communication, family members and the broader Principia community are enjoying multiple opportunities to actively engage in our students’ individual and collective voyages of discovery. In fact, a key element of Principia’s commitment to 21st-learning is fostering students’ ability to effectively share and communicate their progress and learning processes with audiences beyond the classrooms.
Showcasing Thinking and Doing
At February’s first-ever and highly successful Lower School Showcase of Learning, every student from the littlest preschooler through fifth graders had the opportunity to take family members and other visitors on an educational expedition of sorts.
“It wasn’t just about sharing a final science project or piece of writing, but about giving students the opportunity to lead their parents through their individual learning process,” explains Lower School Assistant Principal Heather Tibbetts. “The students shared their thinking as well as their challenges and successes—what they were most proud of and what they would change if they had another opportunity.”
“This was such a natural way for my child to share what she’s learning,” said a delighted preschool parent. “The Showcase of Learning allowed my son to reveal the processes he went through to create his projects,” noted the parent of a fifth grader.
What made the event even more enjoyable for the students—and helped with the organization and flow— was the use of “passports.” Students in each grade had their own passports, indicating what they would be sharing with their visitors and where and when. At each location where they shared learning, they earned a sticker in their passport. “This was a fun way for the conversation to stay focused and help students share something from every subject,” Tibbetts notes.
Opportunities like these help celebrate as well as cement learning and skills—as is evident by our students’ increasing confidence in sharing and presenting to audiences beyond their teachers and peers. This was certainly the case with the additional sharing opportunities for Grades 4 and 5 during February, which were attended by students from Middle and Upper School as well as by parents.
A Deep Dive into History, Technology, and Creativity
In units related to their upcoming trip to Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg, fourth and fifth graders teamed up in “travel agencies” to make convincing pitches to visitors to visit—and settle in—the New World. The “travel agents” developed design and technology skills alongside research and writing abilities, as they created colorful and informative posters and travel brochures highlighting the weather, farming potential, and natural resources of the Middle Colonies, the Carolinas, and other settlements.
“Sail with us to the Middle Colonies and we’ll provide your housing, food, and everything else,” said one persuasive agent. “You’ll only have to work for us for seven years!”
A few days later, fourth graders presented a “wax museum” exhibit, which also tied to their upcoming trip. Audiences watched short videos—that the students had storyboarded, scripted, and filmed on their iPads—highlighting the history of each of the three early colonies—Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth. At the wax museum, each student depicted a specific character— William Bradford, governor of Plymouth; Powhatan, an Algonquin chief; Virginia Dare, the first English child known to be born in the New World, for example—and shared key details of life and times in the settlements.
As teacher Denise Mouser describes it, this process was almost entirely student-driven. After she outlined some of the requirements and rubrics for the movie and the museum, the students chose how they would create the film—using shadow puppets and cutouts—and which characters they would research and present at their museum.
The Showcase and the social studies presentations “highlight what Lower School students are learning about creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking—the essential 4 Cs of a 21st-century education,” comments Dr. Kimiko Ott, Principal of Preschool–Grade 8 and the School’s Director of Curriculum. With inquiry at the center, she explains, our students are learning to actively explore ideas “for the betterment of humanity, using investigations, provocations, research, building, innovating, and collaborative problem-solving.”