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Innovation
As early as 7:30 a.m. on school days and during recesses, Fenn boys flood into the 3,300 sq. ft. Stone Family Innovation Lab at the center of campus. It is the optimal setting for students to explore new ideas and advance prized creations and class projects.
Sturdy workbenches resting atop concrete flooring are the primary workspaces, complemented by a cluster of couches tucked alongside a child-sized plastic swimming pool overflowing with thousands of LEGO bricks. A nearby equipment room hums with 3D printers and laser cutters, a CAD (Computer Aided Design) mill, and more. Hand tools that include chisels, hammers, hack saws, drills, soldering equipment, wire benders, and more, are also at the ready, as are glue guns, craft sticks, duct tape, rope, and healthy stacks of cardboard. These tools co-exist with MacBooks, iMacs, iPads, and desktop computers, LEGO robotics kits, and virtual reality headsets. It is a playground for active middle school minds.
Deeper into the Innovation Lab, a bright and engaging classroom space beckons with white boards for brainstorming and a large green screen for the creation of compelling backdrops for videography projects. Adjacent to the Innovation Lab is the Samoylenko Wood Shop, inspiring a healthy cross-collaboration between the two spaces on student and class projects.
Activity in our Innovation Lab is not limited to student-inspired tinkering. It is equally a creative workspace where students and faculty engage in compelling cross-discipline projects, from designing app proposals to cultivating museum exhibits. Learn more in this "Innovation at Fenn" video!
Spotlight on Human-Centered Learning
As Fenn considers the present, with an eye towards the future, it is resoundingly clear that the world needs young people who can wrestle with big problems, but in compassionate and collaborative ways. Simply knowing is no longer enough. Knowing and applying to something bigger than oneself is of extreme value and need.
With the Innovation team as a guide, Fenn is leveraging Human-Centered Learning (HCL), an immersive and interdisciplinary approach that engages students in deeply transformational, relevant, and emotionally-threaded learning experiences. It is a roadmap for students to navigate the challenges of an uncertain world in innovative AND humane ways. Students across all grades will engage in cornerstone units that feature this compelling approach.
HCL in Practice
"Preserving Memory: Remembering the Holocaust"
For the past two years, the Innovation Lab has housed a thought-provoking exhibit created by Fenn eighth graders and spearheaded by our English, Social Studies, Innovation, and Library teams. Students were challenged in this cornerstone unit to research and tell the story of a subject of historical significance related to the Holocaust. They thoughtfully engaged in a design thinking process fueled by empathy that resulted in the creation of artifacts, artist statements, and documentary videos that were on display for public viewing.
Thank you to Facing History for its partnership on the project, to Concord Museum for its museum design guidance, and to the Holocaust survivors and family members who shared their stories to enrich student understanding.
"[The Stone Family Innovation Lab] is an incredibly collaborative space where a lot of our boys from every division feel safe to explore in a really creative and engaging way."
-Nathan Kraai, Director of Innovation & Design Thinking