One question - Would you work when on vacations? Probably not...
What if you were a child of around 12? Definitely not.
But my students from Team Innovation are, even in their summer vacations. What makes it even more interesting is that I might not even have them in my class next session starting in June. So what is the incentive? I asked them as they joined in. It was simple - they believed in me & in the wonderful projects we had worked together in the course of the year - playing mystery skype, connecting with scientists & subject matter experts, worked on 'n' number of global projects - exchanging tokens of peace with the world, comparing the eating patterns & the widespread distribution of the global obesity epidemic, cooking up a storm in the kitchen as we explored kid-friendly finger foods, created stories, comics, sang songs, wrote & directed skits on SDGs, explored the global catastrophe climate change & how WE could take climate action, carefully listened to our hearts - to kindness, learnt to differentiate between equality & equity. Indeed, it was the belief that that learning should be lifelong & not restricted to days-school days or vacations, learning which allows you to reflect within yourself & make connections yourself, instead of spoon-feeding you the content, that WE matter & WE have the power to make a difference in the world.
The next thought you'd have is so they are meeting up in school or perhaps in the teacher's home. The answer is no, we are not meeting up physically at all, but we are using innovations in the field of technology to connect virtually, utilizing all our learning from the last academic session to participate in a global project we all believe in.
In week 1 we tried to understand what innovation really meant. We worked on the guiding questions:
1. Define innovation in your own words. How is innovation different from invention?
2. Give any 2 examples of innovations.
3. Every innovation may come with benefits, unexpected side effects and drawbacks. List atleast 1 advantage & 1 disadvantage for each of the 2 innovations you have selected.
4. List atleast 1 innovation which you feel is not to the benefit of people. Why do you think so?
5. Select ONE option (home or school) & list 5 innovations you are likely to see in these places by year 2030.
6. List 2 innovations that are making cities more sustainable?
This is what the students had to say