Author: Madlen Christova, 125 Boyan Penev Secondary School
Start date 4/5/2021
End date 4/27/2021
Beneficiaries: students in 7th grade
Activity: The online workshop “Brain Lab” includes preparation and presentation of mind maps on the challenge “What if…” based on topics in mathematics, science and technology. The students work in teams. The mind maps contain hypotheses, forecasts, research of available and necessary resources, interviews (studies) among peers, parents and STEM professionals.
Procedure: The session is realized within the subject “Project Design” in 7th grade. Each team decides the format and the way of presentation: multimedia product; etude; real model. The session ends with a general discussion.
Topics: “What if there is no gravity?”; “What if there are two Suns in our system?”; “What if we all live in an aquatic environment?”; What if there are no numbers? What if we can change the colour of our skin? “If the buildings could move.”
Duration: 80 minutes
Final result: Extremely rich mind maps – work in different directions and search for arguments “pros and cons”. Discussions on available resources and technological opportunities in the future to identify obstacles were interesting. The predominant part of the classes divided the problem into two perspectives – for the development and improvement of man as a person and for the progress of the human as a whole. The group of interviewees commented with interest on the answers of specialists in various fields. The questions asked by the teams provoked reflection and provoked new questions in the students.
Participants: Students – 50 (main group); 25 (study participants); Parents – 20; Specialists – 10. The class is open and can be attended by other representatives of the school community.
All visuals belong to the Author – Attribution CC-BY