Loose Leaf Notes

At the year end Blue Mountain High School student presentations, Alex used charts to demonstrate his studies on biology and the human anatomy.  Talking about the function of the heart, he said, “It’s a common myth that blood is blue when it’s deoxygenated.  It’s actually a dark purple and just looks blue through a white person’s skin.” He also explained how vision works.

Linneya did a lot of research on her power point presentation on mermaids.  We learned the difference between Sirens and Mermaids, which get confused because both are known to lure sailors into the sea. While mermaids, often depicted with a comb and mirror, are half human and half fish, sirens were actually mortal women, handmaidens to Persephone who were gifted with the bodies of birds to search for Persephone after she was abducted by Hades, Linneya reported.

Madeline’s presentation was on the history of animation. It was informative and in depth. She played some of the earliest examples of animation, some of which had the whole group laughing, and showed the medium’s progression to the present.  Funny video HERE.

Adrian talked about his electronics class and how he learned through experimentation, alone or in groups.  He presented a remote control vehicle that he programmed to stop before falling off a table.  “I programmed it with the help of other people who were also not just telling me what to do. We were experimenting together.”  Adrian also performed a rap song about math that expressed how he conquered some of his aversion to learning it.  Listen HERE.

“My experience this year was awesome,” said Vivianna. She compared sitting at a desk to a cubicle job and spoke on the importance of being outside for her own creativity.  “We do not sit at desks.  We sit outside. We garden and learn to build. Everything we do here prepares us for the real world.”  She led the group outside to experience the difference for themselves.

Rachel said she was inspired by her writing class and realized that, while she didn’t feel she was up to writing a novel, the short story format of storytelling resonated with her, and she discovered she was good at it.  She read from her story “Living the Dream,” which, from what I could tell, was a science fiction mystery about a group of planetary survivors on the run from a pack of killers. Listen to a clip HERE. 

Marin added humor to her prerecorded video presentation on a weekend spent building a cob house with her father and others.  The video chronicled each day’s progress building a low cost home with local materials, clay-rich earth and straw.  She injected little known holidays into each day’s report. “Day Five: aka as Iris Day, No Socks Day, VE (Victory in Europe)Day and World Red Cross Day …”  She explained that the cob house roof would be green, “which means that plants are going to grow on it.”  Watch a clip HERE.

All the students answered follow-up questions from audience members, made up mainly of fellow students, teachers and parents.  The school director asked Marin if she could help with a future cob building project at the EcoVillage, where the school is located.

I didn’t see Jackson’s presentation on building a remote control plane, or his brother Nolan’s on a Justice class that was taught by his Harvard Professor uncle via skype.  I heard that the class, which included video lessons and reflections and was taught at Harvard, was so popular that another student joined in.  I also missed Ryan and Camille’s presentations. Ryan’s was on real life skills that he learned in the school’s Culinary Arts program and Camille’s was on music video production.   Read about the Culinary Arts Student Cafe project HERE.

Post notes: The high school at the Floyd EcoVillage, which has been going through organizational changes, will be called Springhouse Community School as it goes into the next school year.  There is an open house scheduled for June 11^th from 6 to 8 p.m., which will give the public an opportunity to see the school and learn more about project based education. More on project based education can be found at edvisions.com.