I have the great pleasure of leading a group of teachers through the Tech Scout PD strand, one of which is participating a second time. The premise behind this professional development strand is to learn by doing. As a result, the strand consists of a series of challenges that encourage participants to innovate outside of their comfort zone. For our recent face to face event, the participants traveled back in time to the fourth grade. By doing so, they were able to get a sample of the experiences that fourth graders have when they participate in the technology exploratory. In addition to learning how to work as part of a team to accomplish a common goal, they must also agree on what that goal should look like by planning and designing a mutually inspiring creative outcome. Then, they have to pace themselves to accomplish their goal within the time allotted. Finally, they have to present their hard work to the participants outside of their design team.
To say that this experience was fun, would not do it justice. It was so awesome to see the teams come together to bring their creative ideas and past experiences to inspire resiliency in problem-solving as a result of being committed to making something great. The Tech Scouts can continue to visit the Idea Lab with their own classes and inspire innovation within the core curriculum. As an additional incentive, each visit to the Idea Lab falls within the Take a Walk Challenge and is worth three points in earning their digital badges.
