Fourth grade is once again undertaking a Genius Hour. Genius Hour is a concept inspired by Google’s business practice of allowing their employees to use 20% of their work day to research ideas and develop products. Two products developed from this practice have been Google News and GMail.
Our students engage in a year-long passion project based on the same idea. Students pick a topic that they are passionate about and spend time in school and at home researching and building a product. Students are given guided free choice in picking their projects. Last year, culminating projects included novels, a fundraiser to the RISPCA, a video game creation, and a motorized bicycle. This year, students are interested in learning more about how watches work, creating YouTube “how to” channels in MineCraft and crafts, creating healthy snack foods, designing hats and more.