Elizabeth Schirmer, founder and CEO of Untapped Shores International (USI), shared her global work in hydroponic farming and water sanitation as the seventh speaker in the Commons Speaker Series. USI uses entrepreneurship to address the following three needs of women and children worldwide: sanitation and hygiene; clean water; disaster relief....
On Wednesday, March 11th, several people virtually attended a webinar of a presentation given by Dr. Adam Frank, U of R astrobiologist, at the University of Rochester entitled “Human Impacts on Earth”. As a webinar, the audience was able to view Dr. Frank’s information slides and hear his live presentation...
Design Thinking process with Math Topics class–by Seth O’Bryan The Math Topics class, an elective course in the upper school, has been building a math board game for lower school students in the workshop. The project began with the goal of creating a game to help students learn math. With...
July ‘64 field trip–by Leader In Residence Jocie Kopfman Every trimester in Rights and Responsibilities, the class goes on a field trip around the city of Rochester to visit the sites of the 1964 race rebellion. Luis Perez, who witnessed the race riots from his home on Joseph Avenue, guided...
Summary of Net Zero Commons Trial–by Seth O’Bryan Below is a table summarizing net energy use in the Commons from March 2-6, 2015. An important caveat is that this doesn’t include the energy use of the compressors, which drive the heating and cooling. The compressors are the biggest energy users...
Guest author: Cameron Yudelson For the last several weeks the students of the Living Building class have been working on a net zero energy project. The goal of this project is to conserve as much energy in the Commons. The ultimate goal is for energy use to match the amount...
Many hardy people braved the cold to attend the presentation on Raising Mindful Children, the sixth installment of the Commons Speaker Series. The discussion began with an overview and introduction to mindfulness by Siobhan LeGros, Lower School art teacher and mindfulness instructor, with several exercises to focus awareness and practice...
This update is from Lindsay Cray, our 5th and 6th grade science teacher. The students are currently in the middle of a unit of study on natural disasters! Natural Disasters: Earthquake Safety Design Nature creates, nature destroys. Communities around the world are faced with natural hazards-extreme environmental events. Of these...
As part of their study of physics, eighth grade scientists began a new engineering challenge with a goal of designing and building a snow sled that would experience the lowest force of friction. To kick-start the project, students brainstormed a list of ideas related to the challenge. From that list,...
The 3A and 3B classrooms went off the grid this week as the culminating event in their study of electricity, circuits, and solar power. What started as an inquiry-based project on alternative sources of energy grew into a fantastic, authentic challenge to utilize solar energy to power individual desk lamps...
