ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY’s Grade 8 Innovation Fair provides an opportunity for students to apply their design thinking skills to solve real-world problems. For the year-long project, students worked in small groups to research and identify energy-related issues, including learning about the drawbacks of fossil fuels, types of renewable energy, and other new technologies that can help mitigate climate change and environmental pollution.
The students decided on an issue they wanted to address and set out to design and create a prototype of a product to solve the problem. In January, the Grade 8 students had to pitch their energy-related products to a group of Grade 12 investors, or “sharks”, in a Shark Tank format to obtain funding for their project. The innovative products ranged from solar cars to kinetic jump ropes. The students then refined the products and created a marketing campaign that involved infomercials, public service announcements, online presentations, and websites.
Last week, an online panel of judges from across the Pacific reviewed their materials and evaluated their projects. The stage they strode in January was just a distant memory, but students still stepped into the spotlight of their living rooms and presented their innovative ideas to much acclaim from the judges.
Great job, class of 2024!
Guest post contributed by Dora Chilton, Secondary Design Technology and Environmental Science Teacher
