The Eagles had a mixed two weeks. Some went for holidays; some did Holiday Projects, some had to compile their (long overdue) Badges. But every Eagle missed coming back to Acton! Auntie See Ming reminded that the ActonKL ES Eagles are two years in the journey!
Two years ago (31st October 2016):
For the Founding Eagles, this is now their 14th Sprint, and they are heading for a Surprise—Detective Science Quest!
As usual, you hear these comments again and again (this is the 13th round).
“I’m so happy to be back. Now I get to be with my friends again.”
“Why do we need to go home? This is home.”
“This is going to be the best sprint ever!”
Also, we welcome Cze-Yi as the 2nd Elementary School Guide in the community. The Eagles have all known her well as she has spent 3-4 full days and even an Eagle panel interview prior to the hiring decision!
Celebrating Start of Sprint 2; Dressing Up for the Occasion
First, the challenge is dressing up in celebration of Deepavali. The dressing up continued to Friday as Eagles also celebrated Halloween. The ES Eagles also celebrated Xania’s Birthday!
Apsie led the celebration by making Diyas and Rangoli (Deepavali art & decorations), and murukkus, Barfi (festive treats). It was not just material things; she shared the meaning behind it: “Do you know why we celebrate Deepavali?”
It was a cultural treat for the diverse group of Eagles (in case you are wondering—we are 20 families represented by nine nationalities; the split is roughly 25% Chinese, 25% Indian, 25% Malay, 25% European/Eurasian)
The Middle School (MS) Eagles also have their fair share of reunions; mostly through homemade treats and those deep or obscure conversations that teenagers usually have.
One of the secret sauce of Acton Academy is children having the ownership of the space. We give them space to celebrate, make the environment fun, and also take responsibility to the mess that sometimes comes along with it. It is with those sense of ownership that the Eagles take charge of their learning with their peers. It is the basis of human connection and intrinsic motivation that is surprisingly hard to replicate unless there is a balance of freedom and structure.
Wait. That’s what happened to Acton Academy day in and out. The highlight is always the Quest that changes every two months. Detective Science means becoming like Sherlock Holmes or Inspector Gadget or a scene from CSI.
via GIPHY (Edmond’s favorite site :P)
Elementary School – Detective Science Quest
Like the Hollywood movies, there is drama and intensity (you expect nothing less from the showbiz business)! Acton Academy is no different, except the Eagle has to do more work and hands-on learning. It is what you expect from every Acton Academy Quest—a series of challenges, scaffold in a way, that leads to an Exhibition for the public.
The Guides took great lengths to simulate the situation of CSI. Parts of the studio has modified into a Crime Scene. They scattered the room with fingerprints, artifacts, and broken trails of evidence. The first challenge: can you list down all the evidence?
There is a lot to investigate! And solving a crime scene requires thorough discussions and an eye for details!
Detectives-in-training checking out the crime scene and off to their first tasks (observing and collecting evidence at a crime science and analyzing fingerprints)
“This is like playing Clue in real life.”
“Did you know that nobody in the world has the same fingerprint as you?”
Deep discussions. As they walk around at the crime scene, “the thief must have come in through the window, stepped on the paper with his muddy shoes, knocked over the chair and umbrella because …”
Their investigation continues. It will get harder, and harder. But solving a mystery is REWARDING, especially if you can catch a Guide (oops…hint given).
Middle School – Psychology Quest
The Middle School (MS) Eagles started their Psychology Quest. If you think the ES Eagles have mind-bending conversations and experiences, wait till you see the MS Eagles. They are digging into the best of Online lectures (Crash Course), repeating psychology experiments, and a desert toppings of movies of paranormal psychology. Before delving into the concepts, the focus this week is on:
- What is Psychology (intro into Psychology)?
- What is a (social) Experiment?
The highlights were the experiments of perception. First, the Eagles studied the effects of sight versus taste. They tasted variations of colored yogurt. Four of the nine Eagles reported that the color affected the taste. Next, they studied smell and taste through blind tasting experiments. The challenge was not the experiment itself. But the skills of doing a good experiment: creating consistent conditions, and detailed planning.
They will be doing this over and over the week:
- Setting up the experiment
- Working with a Hypothesis
- How to run an experiment
- What is the independent variable? What is a dependent variable? What is the Control Group?
- Debrief to all test subjects (Imagine the Stanford Prison experiment without a debrief!)
- What is the conclusion from the hypothesis?
The mind is the most powerful tool (and source of most headaches, duh!) of Mankind, and we barely understand it. Here, the Eagles get a chance to experience some of the discovery first hand—but they are barely scratching the surface. The truth is that the field of Psychology, Neuroscience, and all Science that describe (& predict) human behavior is still new. If this is true, many, many things are worth questioning and discovering. And the Eagles have a community for that in Acton Academy.
Great to be back in School again. Especially when you can dress as the Hero within. It’s what Acton Academy is about—a Hero’s Journey.