this year have been: Digitopolis Bank & Trust, Go Green Hybrids (enviro-friendly cars and vans), Nature-inspired Toys and Games, Bill’s Build-It-Yourself (robotics, Mind- storms NXT LEGOS®), and Geek Electronics (computers, iPhones, etc.) One example of learning about technology and environmental issues was the interview and tour this year at Azure Dynamics, a successful company for hybrid vans, including a FedEx fleet. This company had bought Soleria Cars, where my former students interviewed innovators more than a decade ago. Stimulated by the experience, these student owners of “Go Green Hybrids” immersed them- selves in the study of hybrid technology and climate change. They collaborated informally with another student business, “Bill’s Build-It.” Some aspects of Digitopolis have not changed dramati-
cally. The bank still makes a loan to each business, which is paid back in regular install- ments with simple interest. In the process of creating and marketing their businesses, students write and solve problems that involve skills such as estimation, probability, mea- surement, the four operations, fractions, decimals, percent, and logic. To quote a student, “. . . so I could give discounts, we learned percentages.”
Challenges in “Digi”
Students were highly motivated to compute and think with precision, especially when dealing with customers and the bank. Students made transactions interdependently and used STEM vocabulary with each other; the “word wall”—our display of topical vocabulary words—grew. Besides paying prin- cipal and interest, owners paid for their store lease ($/sq.ft.), bought from other businesses, and paid 50% of their bank depos- its to Digitopolis Wholesale (me), as a way of experiencing what it costs to run a business. Owners have continued the practice of using a sales book to write customers’ receipts (which were sometimes inconsistently scanned). To make purchases, the students still wrote checks and calculated balances. Those who knew how to use a spreadsheet were encouraged to keep records on the computer. Digitopolis Bank & Trust always kept comput- erized records of the deposits and loan payments of each business. One of the bankers wrote, “I remember when the bike store owners thought they had paid their loan. It was kind of fun arguing with them and showing our computer records.” Designing the website for Digitopolis was a challenge for two determined middle
schoolers. It has become the repository for documents and media for each business, including mission statement, product information, advertisements, gift cards, videos, forms, coupons, and other writing. It is hard to find time and volunteers to manage the website and keep it updated. Using Power Point and Photo Elements or Photoshop for pre- sentations have been popular endeavors. In the last few years, students have been seizing the opportunities to be innovative,
environmentally conscious engineers. Objects built at home have included a wooden bank vault, science toys, PTR III (pulsar toothbrush robot), art work illustrating biomimicry, model hybrid vehicles, projects from Instructables website, and LEGOS constructions. After workshops at Tufts University, some students have used SAM (Stop Action Movies) Animation to sell their products. An architect showed some students how to make foam core scale models of their shops/offices. I chose not to undertake this in school, but Pete’s
©SYNERGY LEARNING • 800-769-6199 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 Connect • PAGE 23
Expert model airplane builder coaches owner of “Go-For-It-Model Planes,” a student-created business.
christina nicolson
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