Greenheart Ship Designs 2013-2014!

Earlier in the year when I was super gung-ho and diligent about getting Skype in the Classroom routinely into my classrooms, I discovered this interesting Skype lesson hosted by Greenheart Ship Designs called Designing the Green Ships of the Future.

Check out this video from Al Jazeera that Greenheart shared which explains the need for these projects:

  (Click here if it won't play)

We connected our Intermediates with the project and opened it to students voluntarily. Only those who felt they had something to contribute worked on the project and would be invited to the follow up Skype call. Then life happened and months passed. Now, finally!, we are ready to connect those successful student designers with the Greenheart people themselves and bring a real-world relevance to our eco-friendly shipping adventure.

The photos of their designs are too large to send to our wonderful Greenheart contact, Gavin, via email so here's my solution! Enjoy, and stay tuned for an update on how our Skype finale goes... :)

UPDATE: June 19, 2014 Well today was the day! Almost all our designers made it to our Skype call, despite it being the morning of Grade 8 Graduation and an acceptable day for more than half of them to NOT be here. Our call started promptly at 9:15 am (14:15 pm in the UK where Gavin was). After months of planning and missed dates, the students were nervous but excited to finally hear from a real grownup working in this career that they had an opportunity to contribute to. As a teacher, it was amazing to connect students to such an authentic learning opportunity. It was also fabulous to hear how so many of the ideas the students came up with through their independent research, discussion, and creativity were truly viable and even already being implemented. Gavin gave quality feedback on more than element of each design and even students who were originally reticent about sharing on camera chose to read and talk about their designs. Below I've included the videos of our call, and within each group, their discussion and feedback.

The Highlights Reel!

Cole & Stephan (Grade 7)

Amber & Diana (Grade 7)

Kristen & Sarah (Grade 7)

Alexa & Sanobar (Grade 8)

After talking with Alexa, Gavin provides feedback for our absent Grade 8 designers Kayla, Sam, Sarah & Skyler, as well!

Kayla & Sam (Grade 8)

Sara & Skyler (Grade 8)

(Apologies to Sara who was actually present in the building but did not realize she was one of the VIP groups invited to the call!) :(

Josiah & Mohammed (Grade 8)

(no explanation provided)

Saihaj & Shakira (Grade 8)

Hiba, Caitlyn, Ben, & Kaitlyn (Grade 8)

Djellza & Sukhdeep (Grade 7)

Phew! So many great designers! After receiving such encouraging feedback, we had the opportunity to ask a few questions of our own...


This was a wonderful experience for students and teacher alike and I hope to be able to continue connecting with Greenheart and similar authentic learning opportunities via Skype in the future! Many thanks to Gavin and all the students who participated! :)

Here's the collection of live tweets from our special event, via Storify...