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Power seats, lights, phone charger, cup holders

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Wow! I am blown away with these kids. I also love that they are considering this population of students in their driving question.

Speech- Language Pathologist

My son would like to do PBL all day, everyday. His confidence has grown so much from this experience.

Amber

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Pitching out to Mrs. Evenhouse’s 2nd grade class

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Pitching out to Mrs. Evenhouse’s 2nd grade class

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Students had some great glows and grows to share.

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We had a full house of parents. So much fun hearing their feedback.

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Panther, our new district dog came to visit 

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Panther, our new district dog came to visit 

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Students blended characteristics of the real dog, Panther, and our robotic painter, Pom.

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Mrs. Dehaan helping students to understand alternative communication devices. 

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Mrs. Dehaan helping students to understand alternative communication devices. 

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Putting Together the Final Solution Board

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Putting Together the Final Solution Board

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Fun trip to Boileau and Company.

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Students enjoyed their trip to Boileau and Company.

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So fun to get out in the community and meet with business partners.

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Collecting data to see what groups of students are socializing and not socializing together during recess.

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A great day to get feedback from high school students at the CTC.

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This team continues to bond and works so well together.

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Our second visit to Bouleau!

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Pitching Out to our  Business Partner  (Boileau)

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Pitching Out to our  Business Partner  (Boileau)

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So fun for our friends at Boileau to see our final solution.

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Always validating to see the solutions other groups came up with and to give feedback.

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Working Hard to Make Changes after our First Pitch- Out

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Working Hard to Make Changes after our First Pitch- Out

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Revisions and reflections. One big adjustment is we realized we have way too many words in our slides so changed those to bullet points!

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Such a great message seen during our tour of the Careerline Tech Center.

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This is an example of what our panther could do. This type of robot inspired our idea.

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Franklin High School Cheerleaders Perform with Robot Dog

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Students took some time to think about what they liked and wanted to improve upon.

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Touring the Automotive Area at the Careerline Tech Center

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Touring the Automotive Area at the Careerline Tech Center

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So much fun seeing what programs are offered at the Careerline Tech Center .

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Practice Pitch out to our Fourth Grade Class 

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Practice Pitch out to our Fourth Grade Class 

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First time pitching out our solution! Loved hearing ideas of how we could change things to made our idea even better!

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Our finished group me cube!

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Sharing out our ideas on how to thrive when we present our solution.

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Touring the Graphic Design Classroom at the CTC

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Touring the Graphic Design Classroom at the CTC

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So fun to see what possibilities there are for students with certain interests in the future!

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Students getting feedback on their initial solution.

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Students pitching out their robotic panther solution to business students at the Careerline Tech Center.

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Pitch out Day at the Careerline Tech Center

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Pitch out Day at the Careerline Tech Center

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Students loved sharing their ideas.

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Students had fun using Chat GPT to get a rendering of their solution.

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Example of a student picture idea.

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Students drew and explained their ideas to each other and meshed them into a final solution.

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Trying to decide what ideas we want to pursue.

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Students combined 100 ideas with the Collaboration Tower Protocol.

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Flushing out our ideas.

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Students enjoyed seeing a few challenge examples.

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Learning about the Kindness Machine by the Creator

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Learning about the Kindness Machine by the Creator

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Students loved hearing about the kindness machine!

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The creator of courageink joined us for a Q and A session.

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Google Meet with the owner of inkcourage in Detroit.

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Educating students on the Butterfly Effect.

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Students observed their peers at lunch and recess all week and wanted to share out their findings.

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Students developed a 1 minute elevator pitch to share their solutions.

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Something for students to keep in mind as we move forward.

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Updated: Mar 20

Rated NaN out of 5 stars.

This is a real-world example of the "butterfly effect," a mathematical construct that rests on the notion that the world is so deeply interconnected that one small occurrence can influence a much larger complex system. The effect is named after an allegory for chaos theory in that a small butterfly flapping its wings in Akron, Ohio could, hypothetically, cause a typhoon in Europe. Or not.

However, just as it would be almost impossible to predict that deciding to grab a coffee would result in getting your book published, the mind-boggling part of the butterfly effect is that it's virtually impossible to predict the impact of small things.... like kindness

A small act of kindness can set off a chain of events that we may never know. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego and Harvard provide the first scientific evidence that cooperative behavior is contagious. When people benefit from kindness they "pay it forward" by helping others who were not originally involved, and this creates a cascade of cooperation that influences dozens more in a social network.

One person's generosity will spread to three people. Those three people will each pay forward the kind act to three others, benefiting nine in all. Those nine will continue to multiply the kindness.

From an evolutionary perspective our brains are wired to operate better when we demonstrate social support to others than negative or even neutral attitudes toward others. A recent study used fMRI brain imaging to explore the benefits of showing kindness to others and found 3 specific neurobiological benefits:

For this study, participants were asked about various scenarios in which they either gave or received social support. For example, having "someone to lean on" or "looking for ways to cheer people up" when they were feeling down. As you might expect, both giving and receiving social support correlated to lower reported negative psychosocial outcomes. However, they found that giving social support ultimately had greater brain benefits than receiving .

Another study conducted at Oxford and published on Kindness.org analyzed the impact of kindness in four different categories:

"It used to be thought that the events that changed the world were things like big bombs, maniac politicians, huge earthquakes, or vast population movements, but it has now been realized that this is a very old-fashioned view held by people totally out of touch with modern thought. The things that really change the world are the tiny things"

- Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Practchett

Kindness in the Workplace

In a more recent 2017 study , researchers extended this body of work and conducted a functional analysis of how kindness reinforces kind behavior in the workplace. Employees were randomly assigned to be Givers, Receivers, and Controls. Givers practiced 5 acts of kindness for a personalized list of Receivers over 4 weeks.

They found that Givers and Receivers show increased feelings of well-being in both the short-term (e.g., on weekly measures of competence and autonomy) and the long-term (e.g., Receivers became happier after 2 months, and Givers became less depressed and more satisfied with their lives and jobs). Maybe more importantly, Givers' prosocial acts inspired others to act . Receivers paid their acts of kindness forward with 278% more prosocial behaviors than the control group.

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The "butterfly effect" is a mathematical construct that rests on the notion that the world is so deeply interconnected that one small occurrence can influence a much larger complex system.

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Students were thinking about some kind of vending machine and then we ran across this one.

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INKCOURAGE on Instagram: "The Kindness Challenge is now open in Eastern Market! 🎉

Choose a surprise challenge from the vending machine (easy, medium, or hard!), complete your challenge, & spread kindness in your community! ✨

Inspired by the butterfly effect 🦋:
One act of kindness can create a wave of kindness and lead to bigger, unpredictable things!

Located outside of our store, Inkcourage
At 1520 Adelaide!"

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724 likes, 25 comments - giveinkcourage on May 23, 2025: "The Kindness Challenge is now open in Eastern Market! 🎉

Choose a surprise challenge from the vending machine (easy, medium, or hard!), complete your challenge, & spread kindness in your community! ✨

Inspired by the butterfly effect 🦋:
One act of kindness can create a wave of kindness and lead to bigger, unpredictable things!

Located outside of our store, Inkcourage
At 1520 Adelaide!". 

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by INKCOURAGE (@giveinkcourage)

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Students have been looking in to how kids their age are making a difference in the world.

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48M views · 453K reactions | When nursing home residents were asked “If you could have any three things, what would they be?” their answers were surprising -- and with the help of one young girl, those wishes came true. https://cbsn.ws/2EGLQiQ | On the Road with Steve Hartman

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When nursing home residents were asked “If you could have any three things, what would they be?” their answers were surprising -- and with the help of one young girl, those wishes came true.…

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Student took some time to watch some clips of how students have been making a difference in the lives of others.

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1.9M views · 148K reactions | At Glen Lake Elementary recess is a mixed blessing, in part because their school has many kids with physical disabilities, but no adaptive playground equipment. That is, until one 5th-grade class banded together to make sure their school had a playground for everyone. | On the Road with Steve Hartman

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At Glen Lake Elementary recess is a mixed blessing, in part because their school has many kids with physical disabilities, but no adaptive playground equipment. That is, until one 5th-grade class...

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Students jointed down ideas of what they learned from their visit with our business partner.

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Students enjoyed hot chocolate and snacks while unpacking their visit to Boileau during a fireside chat.

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Confirming Where to Implement our Solution 

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Confirming Where to Implement our Solution 

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Students are pretty sure they want their solution implemented either at lunch or recess.

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We don’t have fun together! 🤣

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The staff at Boileau had some great ideas to offer students!

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When you are downtown visiting your business partner and have a few extra minutes before you need to be back at school a trip to the Peanut Store is a must!

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Such a fun day!

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I love seeing students out in the community checking out local businesses.

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Students are about ready for solutions

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Students were shocked by how quickly 8 minutes went by.

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We had some good laughs about these letters. Students really loved writing them.

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Students put so much thought into these letters. I loved listening to them share.

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Who doesn’t love petting farm animals?

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I loved the excitement on this trip to the Critter Barn. They didn’t want to leave.

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Students came up with a great solution.

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This group is so fun to watch. They get along so well and always work hard.

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Students made a list of social connections they already know are happening at Lakewood.

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The first group  put down their ideas and then they switched and added to each others ideas.

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What we know and want to know….

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Students can keep adding to this as the project progresses.

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Figuring out what our business partner (Boileau & Co.) does.

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Unpacking the Driving Question

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Students shared their Critter Barn solutions and I gave them some I wish and I wonder suggestions.

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Working our way through the creative sequence on our mini PBl before tackling our main driving question.

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Working hard to come up with a solution to our Mini- PBL.

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Students educated themselves on the Critter Barn when they were given the question of “How to build a partnership between the Critter Barn and Lakewood.” This was a team building scoring strategy in which students had 2 hours to travel through the creative sequence and pitch out an idea with little teacher help.

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Students loved participating in the student tech showcase.

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Checking out the VR head sets was so much fun for students.

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So much fun to fly the drone.

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They are all ready for great day!

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A beautiful day for an ice cream treat!

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Students played Otrio in teams of two to practice working together and thinking strategies to beat their opponents.

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Students created a few non negotiables to follow during our meeting sessions. Then, we all signed it.

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Always fun to validate any hopes and fears students may have about the PBL experience.

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Students love sharing their similarities and differences! I had fun watching them complete this activity! There was lots of excitement.

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I always enjoy seeing the strengths of each team member.

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My team is made up of 4 girls and two boys all in fourth grade at Lakewood Elementary. 

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My team is made up of 4 girls and two boys all in fourth grade at Lakewood Elementary. 

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So much fun playing tag and getting to know each other better during Session #1.

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Show through pictures, videos, examples of works to reflect on how students narrowed their ideas, determined their best solution, and developed the solution.

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Please insert a visual of the chosen solution. Give a brief description and the name of the solution.

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How might we improve social connections within our school to support wellbeing and a sense of belonging?

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Please list speakers and business partners you encountered throughout your journey.

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Please add quotes from students, parents, authentic audience, and any business/community members you utilized. Please use first names only.

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Show through pictures, videos, examples of student work, links to reflect how your students built empathy, determined Need to Knows, and uncovered important information to solve their driving question.

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Show through pictures, videos, examples of student work, and written documentation to reflect how teams were built, how students uncovered and understood the driving question, the standards covered, and the launch into the project.

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Show through pictures, videos, examples of student work to reflect on the check ins done throughout the project.  How did students reflect throughout the process? How did student critique and revise?

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Show through pictures, videos, examples of student work to reflect how your students came up with multiple ideas.