LEO is 6 years old and Epsilon is finally raised after 3 major redesigns over 4 years. The final iteration explores a phospolipid bilayer complete with membrane sugars and proteins on the exterior, pores and interior nucleus.

SMART Technologies refreshed our Collaborative Classroom, the first classroom in the world that had more than one SMARTBoard. The projectors are gone and the flat panels are in!

At a similar time, there is a move in education to explore how AI might change education. Like the mass adoption of technology in the 2000’s, much time and energy was spent with little change as we tried to understand best practices. History is about to repeat itself.

This research project is an attempt to bring evidence to the polarized and emotional opinions.

How might students interacting with peers at a SMARTBoard compare with students interacting with an AI peer?

Saddened by the news that Jane Goodall has passed. She was a source of inspiration for people to take action around the world, particularly youth. For me personally, she inspired a small group of high school young women doing Current Generation, that their actions can have a tangible impact on another human. This helped direct the student paths to careers that make an impact using STEM. Jane shifted the misconception often held by our students that a single person cannot do much on their own. Before our brief work with Jane, our students believed that NB students could not do anything globally worthy. But that changed at a Fundraiser for Take Action Global in the Palace in Brussels. At the gala, there was a video of school kids that included Jane’s own grandson, and RHS had the lion’s share playing time. Imagine the pride and the change in trajectory in our students when Jane received our lights (at minute 1:30) made by Current Generation students as a birthday present just a couple years ago.

Allyson took some ideas from the Philip Beasley Studio and the Living Architecture Systems Group (LASG) who have been mentoring the LEO project. Thanks to the Gorbets at the LASG, she connected with Gabriel who is doing graduate work in particle physics. This was an opportunity to explore the cutting edge of chemistry and physics as subject matter for an art sculpture while also practicing electrical and mechanical engineering in the creative process. Her personal interest course gave her time in her day in addition to the significant hours outside of class to discover who she wanted to be.

When she was younger, she believed that as a girl, the whole of STEM universe was at her feet. In her grade 11 year, she had significant anxiety about attending engineering school despite believing she had an engineering soul. This project was designed to help her know with confidence where she wanted to go.

Next semester, she will be working with younger students to help build their confidence and competence.

Current Generation was featured in the Mount Allison Alumni Record. Canada’s #1 Undergraduate University has so many fantastic alumni and somehow they celebrated the work of Current Generation for how it is changing the lives of local students, building people who are confident and competent with an entrepreneurial spirit to create change.

https://mta.ca/record/issues/2024-fall/making-global-impact-through-hands-learning?fbclid=IwY2xjawIe1lRleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHa1SLjsNR4HXcjtR7R3mYo0ZcIGg7S9y1uF9lC3SUxVlm0hV4Zwim3iU5w_aem_VKt0WGKkqKctg7VyN3gSig

I have the son of one of my high school team mates in my homeroom. He is not very interested in school, is very capable but prefers to work on his dad’s construction site. Trying to give him a larger buffet of experiences, I invited him to rebuild the microsphere. He rebuilt it without needing a map. He could visualize the pattern and liked working with his hands. I am hoping to build on this success and see if he will do some soldering.

Twice during these holidays, 6 high school students and 2 university students came in for 4 hours each to work on their projects. It was amazing to have the physics lab abuzz with work. There were no distractions, no bells, no requests to go to the bathroom, no cell phones. Just some good classic rock and lots of creativity. All were surprised at how fast the time went. They were in a state of Flow. It was fun enough that they asked to do it again!!!

Having university students mentor the high school kids not only provided confidence that the high school kids were ready for what comes, but they also provided an area of expertise that I did not.

I have a number of science 10 students who need to do course selections that will direct their whole futures in just a few months. They say that they do not need math or science 10 because they are going to do trades. The fastest mental math people I know are construction workers and plumbers.

When asked if they have ever done anything like trades before, they say no. So they are deciding the futures having never built anything, never held a wrench or a hammer. They need a project to help them legitimately pass my sci 10 class, but more importantly help them discover things about themselves to better inform their upcoming decisions.

Thanks to Anglophone East giving us a $500 sustainability grant and Desjardin giving us a $2800 grant, we were able to purchase two bikes. Thank you for 4 other local bike shops for submitting proposals. Explore Velo had the best proposal. The bikes arrived and over the holidays, I spent days disassembling perfectly good and tuned up bikes right down to the frame.

Starting next week, these same students will get to practice using a wrench and reading directions, and research youtube videos to assemble the bikes. Fingers crossed.

After a very successful 2 year secondment to Brilliant Labs, I am back in the classroom. Now I am teaching Science 10- Science for a Sustainable Society. The topics are around chemistry, circuits and power generation. I wanted students to make a tangible difference in their lives, to live a more sustainable life rather than just do a project and write a test. Of course, you should never follow someone who is not willing to go first.

I promised both classes that I would cycle to school every day that it was safe. I have tried to make this school year resolution for the past 3 years and only lasted 2 weeks. Not only did I tell students, but I also told parents. I am committed now.

La Bikery helped me reduce, reuse and recycle my 1990’s mountain bike from my New Mexico desert days. Other than cables, chain and rear cassette, we were able to update from the original parts to a 1×7 format.

So far, it has been 100%, even on the day that it rain so hard the puddles were over my axles. In order to show the students that I am doing it, I put the bike in my classroom. When the snow gets deeper, it will become too messy to store the bike there.

There is an interesting experiment happening. When I get my bike out of the cold shed in the morning, I max out at 5th or 6th gear and it is much more of a workout. However, when I ride home, I take the bike from the nice heated school and I easily travel in the 7th gear. It has been -10oC and 20 cm of snow. We will see what happens when it gets really cold!