“I think every school should do it!”

Soup to nuts, curiosity projects — Genius Hour, 20% time or passion projects by any other name — work for students. At Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School, in South Burlington VT, this year’s Curiosity Projects ran the gamut from robots to cooking shows, electromagnetic studies to YouTube economics. Educators on the Polaris team provided the support and structure, and students put in the work.

The result? Students shared what they studied, what they made and what they learned! The Polaris team hosted an exhibition to showcase the projects. Polaris team families and 5th graders from schools across the district showed up to learn. Students also added the projects to their PLPs and shared them with families in the more intimate setting of student-led conferences.