As we prepare to enter the 2024-2025 school year, one of the biggest challenges for students is choosing their electives. With KO’s wide variety of electives, reading the course catalog can be a difficult mountain to climb. Exploring the new courses can be extremely challenging because there is no precedent to compare it to. That’s why I sat down with Director of Academic Planning, Carolyn Mckee and Head of Upper School Lisa Loeb to discuss the new electives, specifically the new IMPACT lab courses.
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, there is a new section of electives known as IMPACT Lab courses being implemented next year. Mrs. Loeb crafted these new courses, which include We the People, taught by history teacher Stephanie Sperber; Eco-Design and construction, taught by Mrs. Loeb and Technical Theater Director Michael Bane; and Game Makers, taught by Upper School French teacher Ryan Brodeur.
According to Mrs. Loeb, all IMPACT lab courses must be driven by four checkpoints. The first is that the course must be interdisciplinary. This means that the course is driven by multiple disciplines. For example, We the People will be a course driven by history and ethics. This is extremely important because it encourages connections between different subjects students have learned, leading to a more well-rounded student.
The second checkpoint is that the course must be connected to the community. This essentially means that the students taking the course will interact with members of the Greater-Hartford community in order to see the disciplines they are learning in action. “I truly believe that when students can see what they’re learning in a particular context, they understand the learning better because it’s deeper,” explained Mrs. Loeb. “It’s more important to them because they can see the impact that it has on other people.”
The third checkpoint is that the course must be driven by a question students are trying to answer or a problem that students are trying to solve. Students will first aim to understand the key concepts of the course. They then will try to ask bigger world questions about the topics of the courses. For example, in We the People, students will explore civic engagement and then try to answer why it’s hard for certain populations of people to vote.
The final checkpoint is something that Mrs. Loeb calls “voice and choice.” “We have a set of skills we want you to be able to learn and to demonstrate that you’ve mastered,” Mrs. Loeb described. “We give you two or three different ways to demonstrate that you can do that and allow you to choose.” Essentially, “voice and choice” means that you will have multiple ways of displaying that you understand the topic at hand. This allows for more student control and often calls for students being able to set the challenge level to something they believe they can handle.
The three courses (listed above), meet all four of the requirements and offer a perfect way to become more involved in new learning opportunities. The We the People course will be offered in the fall and is focused on civil engagement. Students will show their understanding through six mock congressional hearings as well as facilitating “Kid Governor” elections and submitting proposals to civic bodies. Students will also get to interact with politicians in the Greater-Hartford area.
Eco-Design and Construction, meanwhile, will be offered in the spring and will be focused on making construction more eco-friendly as students renovate a mobile outreach vehicle. Outreach vehicles are used for distributing food, water, and other materials as well as target outreach services such as harm reduction and healthcare. Students will be able to travel to sites and interact with professionals, such as those working on the new Community Commons.
Game Makers will be taught in the spring and focus on designing games, specifically concerning storytelling, audience experience, and player choice. Students will also explore the history of the gaming industry as well as experiment through “Super Mario Maker 2.”
All in all, the IMPACT lab courses offer a complex variety of student learning opportunities, as well as student choice and engagement. We cannot wait to see the IMPACT courses in full play in the 2024-2025 school year!
