There is no shortage of authentic learning experiences at IA, but the Phoenix Project might be the most comprehensive and collaborative yet. A team of IA staff and faculty have been working diligently since early Spring to design a school-wide authentic learning experience that pushes students beyond the walls of their individual classrooms. Project Week and the Phoenix Project culminate into an event taking place the week before Thanksgiving break (Nov. 18th-21st), centered around finding interdisciplinary approaches to solving the prevalent issue of food scarcity. Ms. Holland, a part of the Phoenix Project team, spent significant time over the summer developing plans for this experience. “Experiences like the Phoenix Project help bridge the gap students sometimes have between their ideas of the ‘real world’ and the content they learn in school. It’s actually all connected, and the learning they’ll do on food scarcity in their classes and during project week will show them just how connected it can be. And the more students are pushed to try and solve real-world problems in a controlled environment like high school, the better they’ll grow into adults that can tackle those problems on their own someday.”

 The Phoenix Project will also be integrated into the class structure so that any student learning about food scarcity over the semester can be seamlessly integrated with the students’ learning during Project Week. This integration of food scarcity topics into the classroom learning experience will allow students to engage with the design thinking approach in a thoughtful manner and to approach this important topic with a wealth of background knowledge, questions, and context.

Project Phoenix is a natural progression of the project-based learning experiences that are the hallmark of IA. Mr. Kent believes that this one of the most important learning moments that students will encounter this school year. “There are several pieces of the Phoenix Project that are critical. One, I love the idea of the community coming together. I’m excited that we’ll have so many brilliant students thinking about a solution from many different perspectives. Two, I think that it is important for learning to transcend the classroom. The idea that you can only learn in your classroom with one teacher, one subject at a time doesn’t need to be there. I am quite confident that the complexity of the problem of food security will cross all academic boundaries. This is a first look at approaching problems beyond the classroom walls. We are coming together as a community to learn together as faculty and students together.”

Stay tuned for more information about the Phoenix Project as the semester progresses.