Warren Elementary School librarian Genevieve Knight and teacher Heidi Ringer brought eight students from fifth and sixth grade to present their “Escape from Extinction” projects created during a maker artist in residence at Dynamic Landscapes (DL). DL is the most important Vermont conference for education and technology. This year’s theme was “Empowered Learning for All” and over 400 educators were in attendance.
They attended Tanya Lee Stone’s keynote address; she is an author of many nonfiction titles. “Girl Rising” is her most recent work in which girls’ stories are told in an effort to improve global access to female education. Later students split into groups and some attended Projects for Hope, which focused on using the UN Sustainable Development Goals to develop community projects. Others attended Dorothy’s Books 2020 and were able to hear next year’s list detailed by the selection committee.
During the second half of the day, students presented in the Projects and Playground Area of the Chaplain Exhibit Hall where educators played the students’ digital maker games. This required students to share their game, demonstrate their content research and explain the coding and circuitry necessary to create these pieces. The students were informative, well-spoken and friendly. Felix, Julia, Kayden, Lily, Maddie, Nolan, Rosie and Warner certainly epitomized the spirit of empowered learners.
