Science and Social Impact in Middle School

One of the innovative aspects of the Institute for Social Impact is the opportunity it creates for students to build connections between their academics and the local and global community. Students apply their academics in local and global contexts through identifying challenges and designing solutions, and can see how their academics apply to their own lives and the real world around them in meaningful ways. “Our Daisies recognize their capacity to identify problems and use Design Thinking to work to solve them,” said Head of Middle School Nicole Christenson. “They are learning to be powerful agents of compassion and empathy.”

In Seventh Grade, the Institute for Social Impact is repurposing an entire day to help students understand how to apply the five Social Impact outcomes — building empathy, advocacy skills, designing solutions, real world experiences, and finding purpose. Students use all of the information they gain on that day in the Dallas community to create a solution to a problem by way of an “impact-a-thon,” which is like a hackathon, and will have a certain amount of time to create new solutions to an existing problem. This challenge is connected to the Seventh Grade curriculum involving wind power, and their Social Impact theme of food insecurity.

“We are challenging students with two questions — how might we understand and improve homeless and low-income individuals’ access to technology, and how might we increase sustainable food access and affordability for homeless and low-income populations?” said Laura Day, Executive Director of the Institute for Social Impact.

First, students will use their academic knowledge to design and build wind-powered cell phone chargers for the community at CitySquare in Dallas, a nonprofit that offers a comprehensive array of social services that address four key areas related to the persistence of poverty: hunger, health, housing, and hope. Then, students will go to CitySquare in Dallas to build empathy around their grade level theme, food insecurity, through a tour, volunteering at the food pantry there, and eating at the CitySquare Café.

While at CitySquare, residents will provide the students with feedback about their wind-powered chargers. Students will take that feedback and experience back to Hockaday with them to engage in an impact-a-thon that afternoon. Students will work in groups to develop solutions to the two questions

“Learning is exciting when you are experiencing it like a chooseyour-own adventure,” said Ms. Day. “Giving students a challenge and then using curriculum and real-world field trips to help build empathy and solve the problems deepens learning. The students are already learning about wind power, and reading The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind in English class, so taking those concepts and applying them to a real-world solution in Dallas works well.”

MIDDLE SCHOOL OPPORTUNITIES

Beyond class themes and projects, Middle School students can engage with the Institute for Social Impact in many ways. This year, Close Up and the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools will bring together Middle School students, including Hockaday girls, from around the world to build inclusive communities, develop the skills needed for active citizenship, and learn from the stories, the successes, and the setbacks of other young changemakers. Seventh and Eighth Graders can join the Social Impact Club, where they engage in Design Thinking to build leadership skills and create impact within the Hockaday and greater community. Fifth through Eighth Grade students are part of Social Impact Leaders, and attend four sessions throughout the year designed to build leadership skills in students and help them meet the five outcomes of the Institute for Social Impact. Social Impact Changemakers are Fifth through Eighth Grade students grade students who attend three sessions focused on introducing students to social impact opportunities connected to their grade level theme.