Spark Grant Spotlight: Sustainable Energy Kits Fuel Student Engagement
Educators! Got a great idea that doesn’t fit into the budget? Now is the time to apply for Spark Grants. Concept forms are due September 22. Applications are due October 13, so don’t delay. Find all the details here.
Patrick Gallivan’s 8th-grade design lab at West Middle School could be nicknamed “the classroom that never sleeps.” Between fetching materials from the countless cubbies around the edge of the room, and using them to craft three-dimensional models, students spend more time on their feet than in their seats.
But the hive-of-activity vibe doesn’t happen by accident. It happens (fittingly) by design.
As a seasoned educator, Mr. Gallivan has seen that experiential project-based learning is far more successful than lectures and notes. His students agree: “It’s a chance to get much deeper into it,” says Evelin, an 8th grader in the class.
Mr. Gallivan has also found that the more you can personalize a student’s education, the more successful they will be. So as he and his colleagues at West Middle School seek to offer students more choice, they saw an opportunity with the sustainable energy unit taught as part of Design. There are more forms of sustainable energy than they can teach in the time they have – so why not let each student choose which ones to investigate?
The sticking point was a lack of supplies. West’s Design class historically included solar and wind energy, but there was no room in the budget to add kits for hydroelectric, geothermal, and biofuel. Undeterred, Mr. Gallivan applied for a grant from Hopkins Education Foundation to expand the curriculum, which we awarded in the fall of 2024.
Each kit includes an assortment of parts students can use to model end-to-end energy systems, or build components in isolation for a deep-dive on how they work. Some pieces are everyday household objects like styrofoam cups or balloons, while others are specialized, such as paddle wheels and test tubes. The hydroelectric kits, for example, have a variety of parts that let students try different designs for everything from the intake valve all the way to the turbine.
Although there’s no text book per se, the kits come with instruction books that guide students through projects and experiments, as well as provide tips n’ tricks for teachers. “It’s like a guess-and-check thing,” says 8th grader Carlie.
Now, with five different sustainable energy types at their disposal (solar, wind, hydro-electric, geothermal, and biofuel), Mr. Gallivan and the other design teachers are able to offer students greater agency in their learning process. “Personalized learning shares HEF’s goal of sparking passion, creativity, and critical thinking because students are allowed to investigate their own curiosities,” he says.
Personalization also makes a massive difference for students who struggle to achieve in the standard educational system. Having a say in the curriculum makes learning feel more relevant and valuable, which, in turn, prompts them to put more energy into their studies. “My hope is that students are finding opportunities to exercise more choice, realize their own voice, and authentically pursue more of their own passions and areas of growth,” Mr. Gallivan explains.
The sustainable energy kits, and the chance to customize what they learn in this unit, seem to be having the intended effect. “Student engagement has increased about 1000%,” he reports. “They’re just about coming out of their skin!” Looks like he’s found a way to generate sustainable student energy, too.
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