The 6th Graders have begun their first project of the year called Coming Together: A Project on What it Means to Collaborate in the Time of a Pandemic. This Design Thinking Project will explore collaboration in depth through a variety of immersive and hands-on experiences. This project will intentionally integrate science, math, and humanities content, as the 6th graders solve real-world problems.

Collaboration is foundational to Project Based Learning and essential to upholding part of the mission of our school at FFS. As such, 6th Graders will not only need to develop the skills of collaboration to complete their projects throughout the school year, but also, will need to think in new and different ways about what it means to "truly" collaborate in the time of a pandemic. Since students will not be allowed to collaborate in all the same ways as before (sharing materials, working closely to each other, etc), the 6th Grade will need to actively think and ultimately develop a prototype that shows their ability to collaborate effectively.

Communication is one skill that is key to collaboration, and the 6th Graders are investigating how Drafting and learning the technical skills of isometric and orthographic sketches is a form of visual communication when learning to prototype that will allow them to express their ideas more clearly within a group.