Steanwood High School students recently developed a wind-powered generator, based on their very own invention. The generator won the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest, where they now go to the national level to compete to win $200,000. The students had to put their minds together, research, and come up with a solution for a problem. They then blueprinted the generator, and engineered it.
STEM and student centered learning where both involved in this project, and it could be considered a genius hour invention. While the students had help, they did the hard work. They did the research. They figured out how to build the project. Kids, not much older than me, have come up with an invention that could change the world. Of course, my genius hour project will not be this huge. It will not win any awards, and it won't change the world. However, I like to think that is will still help people. Besides, these projects have to start somewhere. Maybe someone in another class somewhere will see my genius hour project and start something like it of their own. Today I read the article "Is Genius Born or Can it be learned?" by John Cloud. Cloud's purpose for writing the article was to inform people about what it takes to be a genius. He reached the conclusions that being a genius takes a variety of things. It involves being born with a naturally high IQ, the right personality, and practice. The truth of the matter is that the article is telling us exactly what we need to do in order to reach our maximum IQ, or "genius level". In order to do good in academics, people need to study. In order to do well on my genius hour project, I need to work at it, and I know that now. With this new information, I know that my second hour genius hour project will succeed.
Last week during my English 10 class, we got to listen to a presentation done by Mr. Cowen about how he made a 3-D printer. Mr. Cowen built his 3-D printer as technology for his school, and he built it all by hand. Mr. Cowen's presentation was wonderfully done. He engaged the reader with a strong intro, and he made memerable jokes throughtout his presentation, such as "making this 3-D printer was the most unscientific thing done ever, and I can't believe it works. We stood on it at one point to puch the pieces together." Mr. Cowens presentation will help me present my genius hour because he taught me that it doesn't have to be just talking. You can pass things out to the audienece, and interact with them. I could present a video along with the speech, or do things like that. He organized his speech by explaining what a 3-D printer is, why he built one, and how it works, following with a conclusion. I could present my information in a similar way: what my project is, what I've learned about, what I've done, and then follow with a conclusion.
Genius noun- a person who is exceptionally intelligent or creative, either generally or in some particular respect...
To be a genius, does someone have to be a straight A student, have a high IQ, or get a perfect score on some standardized test, like the SAT? According to Michael Michalko, the author of How Geniuses Think, the thing that makes a person a genius is simply the way they go about solving a problem. The definition of a genius that Michalko gives is extremely different from the definition of a genius, but I believe Michalko's definition to be true. A genius thinks productively, not reproductively like most people do. A genius thinks of every possible way to solve a problem, and they almost never think there is only one answer to it. Geniuses have many strategies including the following: * Geniuses look at problems in many different ways. * Geniuses make their thoughts visible. * Geniuses produce. * Geniuses make novel combinations. * Geniuses force relationships. * Geniuses think in opposites. * Geniuses think metaphorically. * Geniuses prepare themselves for change. As you can see, geniuses do a lot of things that some people might not even think to do. For example, have you ever met someone that will argue their point without knowing the other view? Geniuses probably do not do this because they are aware of both sides of an argument. Geniuses are also successful because they prepare for change. Our world is constantly changing, and if we don't accept this, we will miss out on a lot. My genius hour project encourages me to think like a genius. I am encouraged to prepare for changes if something goes wrong during the process of the project. I am prepared to produce as much as I can through this project for the greater good. I need to make my thoughts visible, and get the word out about my project, and, most of all, I have to look at problems in many different ways, or I may not be able to solve the problem. School have been starting to use Genius Hour all around the world as a way for students to participate in a self-led school assignment. The concept of Genius Hour first started by Google’s 20% time initiative, but developed into schools. Teachers saw a movement to promote student-led learning, allowing students to think for themselves. If you fail at anytime during the genius hour project, it is okay. Genius hour allows failure, as long as the student can learn from their mistakes. Students get the pursue an idea that they find interesting. That’s the beautiful part of the project.
Selling the idea to parents was fairly easy for school teacher Kirr. Kirr began a project that started off with just reading, and talking about a book to the class. The project soon developed into a genius hour, and the results were great. At first, parents wondered how a teacher could deal with a classroom of students all working on a different project. In the end, parents like how outgoing genius hour is, how students learn to adapt, and how students get to pursue an end goal. Sara Born said in the article, “How can you not love something that makes your kids enjoy going to school?” Selling the ideas to student was hard at first, but as students developed ideas for a project it began to get easier. The project is taken in “baby steps” to push students along, but still allow it to be student led. Students get to learn about themselves during the project, and they get to do something for the greater good. “ There’s not a lot of freedom in education now. This is a tiny bit of freedom in a safe environment to explore and push the boundaries and there are no bad repercussions.” Upon learning this information from the article I have read about genius hour, I am way more prepared to dive into the project. At first, I was nervous that I would fail, but now I know that it is okay to fail. Failing helps us learn. I believe that genius hour is a good experience for us, as high school students, because it forces us to think for ourselves. When we go to college and are in the “real world”, teachers won't be holding our hands, and our parents can’t baby us forever. Eventually, we have to step out of our comfort zone, or we will never do anything great. Personally, I believe genius hour will be what you make of it. If you pick something you are passionate about, genius hour will be a fun and creative learning experience. In October, I plan to get the basis for my genius hour project together. To get my plan to help the animal shelter started, I plan to contact the people in charge. I want to explain to them what genius hour is, what we plan to do, and I also want to ask for their permission to continue our project.
In November, we will start raising money. I have many ideas on how to raise money, such as a bake sale, but we are unsure where to go to do these things. During November, I will also try to continue to walking dogs on warmer days, and play with the cats. In December, we will have raised money for the shelter. I plan to donate all of the profit to the shelter, however, we might decide to donate some to an animal abuse campaign if we raise enough money to do so. I plan to still play with the cats and give them attention during December. Unfortunately, it will probably be too cold at this time to walk the dogs. To wrap up the project, we will try to do a final fundraiser in early December. |