An Invitation to Innovate

HANNAH SPENT NINE MONTHS building a gasoline powered go-kart from scratch. Maria spent hundreds of hours painstakingly constructing a glass mosaic. Jack sourced dozens of parts, interviewed a flight expert, and built a working drone. Corbin learned the intricacies of “warp and weave” and custom-strung a championship lacrosse stick. Marc made a series of instructional cooking videos that nearly went viral on YouTube. What do they all have in common? The Capstone Lab at The Peck School.

The Capstone Lab asks a fascinating question—if you give an eighth grader a chance to design a class, something individually meaningful and big enough to stretch across a year, what would happen? How would it turn out?

Glass Mosaic by Maria Vieira '18

“The Capstone Lab is an invitation, and it is an invitation kids don’t often have, to try to articulate what they are excited about,” explained Chris Weaver, Peck’s Director of Curriculum and Faculty Development. “And it’s also a chance to go beyond articulating and do something about it. That’s something we don’t often ask eighth graders to do.”

Weaver is now entering his third year facilitating the lab with students in their final year at Peck. He is excited by the freedom, as well as the unexpected challenges this signature experience presents over the course of the year to Peck’s aspiring project managers and entrepreneurs.

“If you think about it,” said Weaver, “the life of an eighth grader is pretty scheduled. They wake up. They probably have two choices for breakfast. They leave for school at a certain time. They have classes all day. Their teachers give them homework and they are probably engaged in some sort of afternoon activity. They have vanishingly small amounts of time that they are actually required to govern for themselves. With the Capstone Lab, we are saying to our students, here is the time, now what do you want to do with it?”

Students spend one 45-minute class period per week for their entire culminating year at Peck engaged in the Capstone Lab. The lab is a space that provides opportunity for experimentation, observation, and practice.

Participants are asked to contemplate how they can make a difference, solve a problem, or grow as learners throughout the development of a big project. What they quickly realize is that they will set their own homework, set much of their own classwork, write their own report cards, and enlist the help of a number of people outside the class in realizing their crowning achievement.

Hydroponic Garden by J.J. Whitehurst '18

Over the past few years, projects have ranged from penny-stock investment strategies to international product sales, from social and digital media marketing schemes to an online e-commerce website—not to mention the writing, casting, production, and direction of an original dramatic play.

Each year the Capstone Lab results in projects as unique and varied as the students who participate. Common challenges include time management, scale, and overcoming obstacles. The questions students learn to address include: “How do you conceive of the scope of a project?” “What is doable?” “What is too big?”

Instructional Cooking Videos by Marc Bliemel '18

“When most of your commitments are dictated by other people, but you also have this ongoing project you need to manage, you will inevitably grapple with the potential and scale of your ideas,” Weaver explained. “As adults, we have learned over time to understand setbacks. The Capstone Lab is a journey through disappointment and achievement, and at the end of the experience, students will understand themselves a little bit better.”