By Michael Rezendes
Project-Based Learning is one of the many things that makes Minarets High School unique. Curious on what project-based learning is? Check out this documentary created by freshmen Corrin Nielsen and Johanna Ziegler for their Minarets Cs Honors Signature Project:
While students at other schools take final exams at the end of the semester, Minarets students create their signature projects for each class. These projects are carefully designed by Minarets teachers, who make sure that the projects exemplify the learning and skills that students have perfected all semester.
English
In Mr. Michael Vaughan's sophomore English class, students had to address the dilemma of the deer overpopulation problem. Students were asked to create a safe solution to get rid of an overpopulation of deer based on the character they were assigned. Below is Ella Vermeulen's presentation regarding the deer population:
In Mrs. Angeline DeHart's English class, students created 'How To' presentations. We all know that following directions are important, but its also important for students to be able to give clear and helpful directions. Students were asked to breakdown tasks and create a presentation. Two exemplars of this project were freshmen Rayann Avila's presentation on how to draw Bugs Bunny and Justin Rodkey's presentation on how to cook eggs:
Math
In Miss Rebecca Wilson's Math 1 class, students designed their own water parks, including rides, shops, and entertainment. Students had to graph their park design and calculate the slope for each point in the park. Below is freshman Brooklyn Hadjis's presentation as well as freshman Chloe Burcham:
Social Science
In Miss Kaitlin Morgan's Minarets Cs course, freshmen showcased their mastery of Minarets by creating iMovies explaining tips on how students can be successful at Minarets. These videos were debuted to Mrs. Chacon, a Minarets counselor, who will show the top projects to the current 8th graders at Spring Valley Elementary and North Forks as well as the rest of the incoming freshmen next year. Below is an iMovie created by freshmen Justin Bowe and Josiah Kaczmarek:
In Miss Kaitlin Morgan and Mr. Benjamin Regonini's sophomore World History courses, students created infographics about how diseases have forced human to adapt in order to survive the outbreaks. Below is Isaiah Scott's infograph explaining how society has adapted to Ebola outbreaks. These infographs will be donated to Valley Children's Hospital to promote public health.
Ag Science
In the Ag Biology and Ag Chemistry classes taught by Miss Jessica Hall, Miss Keeley Hall, and Mrs. Kristi Mattis, students design and conducted their own experiments as part of their AgriScience Project. Below is freshman Lillian Kier's experiment as well as freshman Ashton Mitchell:
Electives
In Mr. Brett Moglia's Sound, Lighting and Engineering class , students had to at trouble shooting different configurations of sound set ups for concerts and performances. Pictured below is juniors Miles Otero, Nicole Barrios, and senior Joseph Deal.
