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P.S. 144 students share their vision of the 2050 classroom

For only $55, students of the future will be able to buy the Notebook 5X, which includes a fingerprint-activated lock, an optional keyboard, and wings for when students’ backpacks just can’t fit another thing.

The fanciful design was unveiled today by Rory Corcoran, a fifth-grader at Queens’ P.S. 144, during a presentation about “The 2050 Classroom” at the New School’s weeklong MobilityShifts conference on learning in the digital age.

Corcoran and her classmates have been imagining the educational tools that their children and grandchildren might use in school, and the presentation today marked the culmination of their work. Seeing the other designs in action, Corcoran said, “Wow, I think my brain can’t stand all this awesomeness.”

P.S. 144 was one of two schools to work this fall with The 2050 Group, a team of arts experts who are developing new ways to integrate the arts into public schools. The 2050 Group tapped two designers – Hsing Wei, of Pixelated Learning, and Katie Koch, of Project: Interaction/pixelkated – to work with students at P.S. 144 and New Design High School.

“Aside from just re-imagining the classroom and thinking about how technology integrates into their futures, they’re thinking about their own power as designers,” Wei said. “How many of them in the future will end up being a different kind of Steve Jobs?” (more…)

When Mayor Bloomberg announced his intention to turn four struggling Catholic schools into charter schools, observers assumed that the plan would require a change in state law. The law currently bars private schools from becoming schools that are funded with public dollars.

Now, it appears that the city is considering circumventing the state altogether, reports Gail Robinson of the Gotham Gazette. The calculation is that asking legislators to change state law according to Bloomberg’s wishes could backfire against his push to retain control of the public schools. The mayor angered some lawmakers when he pushed a bill extending term limits through the City Council last fall, and state lawmakers have also accused him of abusing his authority over the schools.

Robinson reports that city officials and other charter school advocates are focusing on the fact that the state law prohibits converting private schools, but not closing them and reopening them with changes in place:

This could work in a number of ways. The schools could officially close in June and then reopen. Some staff might have to leave or there could be come kind of interim or alternative certification similar to what’s done by Teach for America or the Teaching Fellows program. While the schools would have to be open to all students, the number of applicants might be small enough to all but ensure everyone a seat. After all, as [CEO of the NYC Center for Charter School Excellence James] Merriman noted, one reason the diocese is closing many of these schools is that they are vastly under-enrolled. New organizations could be set up, perhaps including individuals who work for the church but also parents, community members, alumni and others, to serve as the chartering organization and so on.