Genius Hour, or 20% time, a concept that began in the corporate world and has since been embraced in schools. It gives students time to dedicate to their own interests, and pursue their own ideas and goals, builds agency and fosters innovation. This semester, our 5th grade scientists have enjoyed spending one day each week on projects of their choosing. Some students have pursued individual projects or worked to improve their coding skills. For others, a more collaborative ethos quickly emerged. In one class, students launched into short film projects, one about a game show and the other about a dating reality show. In the other class, a few students built a baseball stadium out of cardboard and issued "credit cards" to all classmates to buy seats and season tickets.

Peers quickly jumped on this idea and decided to start their own businesses in order to earn money in the stadium economy: before long we had a hot dog stand, a jersey shop, a VIP lounge, an arcade and bowling alley. The stadium builders started using Google Forms and Sheets to keep track of the increasingly complex transactions taking place, and before long, we also had an airport, a hotel, a hummus and fish stand, a cafe and even a grocery store!

Students are absolutely thrilled to walk into the classroom on our "free building" days, and their teacher is extremely proud of the creativity, independence and hands-on maker skills they have developed.