Day Three of LSP (poetry, did you notice?) saw Scholars changing gears from taking in information to creating their own expression!

After Code Challenge #3, creating their own codes to communicate birthdays with other Scholars, Mrs. Ward outlined the LSP final project, where Scholars chose their own groups and topics, and then got to work! From planning to materials to culmination, the groups (with a little input from Mentors and Volunteers) exploded in a creative frenzy in the Middle School Art Room, the Science Lab, PIRL Terrace and other little nooks and crannies around campus!

For almost three straight hours, LSP was a beehive of scholarly activity, super fun projects, and creative problem-solving...the laser cutter, two 3D printers, various iPads and laptops, paint brushes, clay tablets, table saws, drills, Hummingbirds...and the list goes on and on.

It'll be exciting to see what the Scholars produce with a couple of days more to work on their ideas!

"I want to go to this school!" someone yelled, as they learned about cellular transcription and translation in the science fun zone to start the day.

With guest teachers showing students how to Scratch, and Mrs. Ward overseeing a race to replicate the DNA-MRNA-protein production of a cell, Day 2 of LSP made students think, smile and work!  Today also saw hamburgers pleading not to be eaten, black holes conversing with stars,  and Scholars attempting to survive CHAOS with Mr. Diggs, before settling back into building circuits and programming with Mr. Umekubo.

All that thinking, though, made some people hot...so we went swimming, where a few learned about underwater SCUBA-diver code while most of the Scholars lived up the saying, "work hard, play hard:)". After a quick lunch of tacos, and a long stretch on the Meadow, the Scholars got back to work coding, characterizing, replicating and programming until the most popular block - Tinker Time!

Whether it's the choice to learn what they want, or the variety of hands-on activities, it seems that Lucas Scholars can't wait to get to the Tinker Time. Today's options included Scratch, the wind tunnel, Makey Makey, Scribblebots and wearable electronics.  With all this excitement and fun-style learning, tomorrow's surprises and activities have got to be awesome!

From Hummingbird to DNA, Shakespeare to Tellagami, the 2014 Lucas Scholar Project took off like a rocket! The Scholars moved from fun zone to fun zone, fueled by healthy snacks and driven by intense curiosity and abundant enthusiasm, asking questions, making movies, learning about cracking the code of their own DNA and then putting it in a necklace:)  The first day was literally loaded with smiles, weighted with wonder and filled with the possibility of learning and having fun at the same time!
Mrs. Ward and Mr Harlan set a great tone that sent the faculty and scholars off on an energetic chase to break each and every code they could find, and start wrapping their brains around the robots they want to build, the lasers they want to use to cut, and of course the underwater codes they want to learn tomorrow.
We just can't wait!