Crestline enrichment specialists land grants

Heather Phillips and Katie Meyerpeter, enrichment specialists at Crestline Elementary, are the proud recipients of two grants: The Gifted and Talented Program Grant sponsored by the Alabama State Department of Education and the Innovation Grant sponsored by the Mountain Brook City Schools Foundation.

Both grants will go toward the funding of a new classroom called The Collaboratory. The Collaboratory will be an inspired teaching and learning environment where students will be immersed in the design thinking process through a series of fully equipped, reconfigurable zones. By engaging in real-world problems and creating real-world solutions in the zones, all students will deepen their levels of understanding new concepts and will further develop skills such as effective communication, collaboration, research, critical and creative thinking and metacognition—all hallmarks of project-based learning.

Mountain Brook Schools’ philosophy is to provide an effective, challenging and engaging education for every one of its students, and The Collaboratory will emphasize this mission by encouraging innovation in a space with opportunities to turn abstract concepts into tangible learning experiences. It will lessen the learning practice tendency to fragment much of what we learn. For instance, robotics should not be taught in seclusion; it should be part of an overall concept with a defined learning goal that crosses disciplines. The same thinking goes for math,reading and writing.

The Collaboratory will provide the proper learning environment and materials to help students make sense of what they learn. Ultimately, The Collaboratory can be used by all students with the goal of being a model classroom that exemplifies the future direction of education. Since the materials purchased will be durable and sustainable, the number of students ultimately impacted will be immense. Both grants together totaled $31,388.

Submitted by Heather Phillips.