The Bronxville School will host its annual Spring Innovation Expo on April 19 as a way to celebrate the creative and innovative spirit across the school community. Students, teachers, parents and community members can explore design strategies, engage in creative play, offer feedback and imagine new possibilities by participating in a variety of workshops.
“The annual Spring Innovation Expo helps the faculty gauge and showcase student progress toward attaining the dispositions of the Bronxville Promise,” Professional Development Coordinator Denise Lutter said.
“The event has evolved from an evening in which experts shared their knowledge with us, to workshops that are led by students and informed by audience participation. The fact that these audiences represent all constituent groups of the school community is very gratifying to us, and provides a remarkable learning experience for all in attendance.”
The family-school partnership event will begin with opening remarks by Director of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Mara Koetke at 6 p.m., followed by refreshments at 6:15 p.m. and a variety of educational and engaging workshop sessions – lead by students and educators – from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
One of the workshops will challenge participants to build the tallest straw structure that can support a tennis ball, while another workshop will encourage participants to use the principles of physics to create a rollercoaster from a variety of materials and test its capacity with marbles. In the Breakout EDU workshop, participants will be immersed in a learning game – similar to “Escape the Room” – that requires problem-solving, analytical thinking and teamwork to unlock a box secured with different sets of locks. In other workshops, participants will learn how to code, create their own video game controllers out of everyday household materials, or use a 3-D printer to solve creative challenges and build their own masterpieces. The Math Craft workshop will engage participants in creating parabolic curves using a ruler, pencil and a piece of paper as middle school students guide them through the activity.
The evening will also feature a “Shark Tank” workshop, which will allow high school physics students to present their inventions and answer questions from a panel of judges. Other students will present their independent projects, including multiple documentary films and original plays, as well as a discussion on the four-year investigation of the water quality of the Bronx River and the extensive historical research that supports National History Day.
“By modeling creativity and critical thinking, engaging in collaborative prototyping and sharing our areas of expertise, we will encourage each other to question assumptions, combine disparate ideas and develop hypotheses in order to build our collective capacity for innovation,” Lutter added.
Registration is required only for the elementary school sessions. Click here for the registration form.
For more information on the Spring Innovation Expo and workshops, click here.
