A fountain powered by the sun, decorated and built by students? How about a wind turbine that powers a campus radio station? You might say David Lawrence, Junior K-8 Center is powered by innovation.
“We want to establish that kids can do whatever they want to do, we want to see them learn outside the classroom,” said Principal Bernie Osborn, who has led the school since it opened nine years ago.
They’re always thinking of different ways to get kids out of their classrooms. Science teacher Laurie Futterman devised an activity in which students use GPS navigators to find answers to questions hidden all around the campus. By homing in on coordinates, the kids complete their assignment, and it’s just the introduction into something even cooler.
“Once they do that we actually move into the Oleta River Basin and we do the same things using kayaks on a bigger scale, so it pretty much uses technology to get out of the classroom,” Futterman explains.
You can’t get further away from the classroom than outer space, and that’s next on the agenda. Students from David Lawrence, Alonzo and Tracy Mourning High School, and FIU jointly designed and built a satellite. A real satellite which will be launched into a low-earth orbit and transmit weather data. As Osborn explains, a parent who happens to be an electrical engineer volunteered to make the project a reality.
“So this really was a labor of love, if you will, of education,” Osborn said.
Although they’re proud of their art, humanities, and language arts classes here, the emphasis at David Lawrence is definitely on STEM courses, in which kids do things like designing shoes on a 3D printer, compete in robotics tournaments, and take part in the school’s champion Odyssey of the Mind team. It’s a sort of critical thinking Olympics for middle schoolers which blends engineering challenges and story-telling creativity.
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“It’s all about thinking outside the box and getting creative and putting together this 8-minute skit that they’re judged on,” said team leader and science teacher Marina Lantsman.
The team is on its way to the state tournament. Two years ago they made it all the way to the world championships in Michigan.
“My job is to provide the resources for our teachers to be successful, give them the academic freedom to step outside of their comfort zone,” Osborn said, and he says that can be done even in age of high-stakes assessment testing, when teaching is so often focused on preparing students for a test.
“I know we can because we're doing it,” Osborn said, pointing out that his school boasts a perennial “A” grade.
A lot to brag about. Maybe they’re powered by creativity, confidence and a dash of chutzpah at David Lawrence, Junior K-8 Center.
