Dive Brief:
- Natalie Catlett, an art teacher at an IB World School in Sao Paulo, Brazil, led her students to create “Mutant Go,” where they created their own mutants and hid them around campus, stumbling into a range of learning opportunities while having fun.
- Catlett writes for Edutopia that her students began discovering places in their environment they had never known existed, and when Catlett created “Wanted” posters for certain mutants, they used strong observation and interpretive skills to figure out where the mutants might be based on their pictures.
- Prompted by written descriptions of where mutants were hidden by second and third graders, students were strategic about where to look, collaborating to brainstorm ideas and rule out certain areas.
Dive Insight:
The Mutant Go project is a reminder that teachers don’t need technology to engage students. The whole project, while inspired by an augmented reality game, was tech-free. This type of inquiry-based lesson is becoming popular as schools recognize the value of giving students the freedom to shape their own learning experiences. It takes much stronger leadership to set students free like this, but it can have significant positive benefits.
Project-based learning at Katherine Smith Elementary School in San Jose always incorporates elements of student choice. This has inspired students take greater ownership of their projects and it ensures they move in directions that truly interest them. And as with Mutant Go, they develop important communication and collaboration skills along the way.
