REDI Lab Year 4 is about to begin! This year, thirty Juniors have applied to participate in a program that originated in 2016. REDI stands for Research-Entrepreneurialism-Design-Innovation and is a trimester-long opportunity for interested juniors to “disrupt” their usual educational process. They work as a cohort, supporting each other and giving each other feedback, under the supervision of the REDI Lab coordinator, Tom Thorpe, with direct assistance from teachers Amanda Zranchev and Martha Smith.

 

REDI Lab occupies these students’ English class period as well as their free blocks. All the students also pull out of at least one other academic course, depending on their topic of interest and their existing Junior-year schedules. Those decisions are handled on a case-by-case basis. The idea is to free up enough blocks during the day that students can really devote a significant amount of their third trimester time and energy to the lab, which is located in the Design Hub of the Ponzio Fine Arts Center.

 

REDI Lab reconfigures time and space in a way that allows students to dive deeply into an area of interest, while they simultaneously take stock of what they value as learners. This sort of program benefits students who are looking for an alternative mode of education, and the REDI Lab instructors spend a lot of time asking students to consider the how and why of learning as much as the what. The meta-cognition (thinking about thinking) in this class is extensive, and plays right to the strengths of many seventeen-year-olds.

 

Of course, such a change of pace can be a real jolt for CA students who have been successful in the dynamic, rigorous educational model they have previously engaged in. Faced with a greater level of autonomy and agency, some need time to get adjusted to the new reality and to figure out what it means for their learning process. Instead of being told what they are supposed to do, the REDI Lab students are consistently asked “What do you want to do?” and “How do you get there?” That level of independence and self-direction can almost be overwhelming at first.

 

Still, by the end of the trimester, the students adapt and become more accustomed to being in the driver’s seat. I have been impressed with what they have been able to plan and execute. Among the various REDI Lab projects from the first three years of the program: two students have written lengthy novels or collection of stories and poems, one designed a business plan for a new private jet company (Uber for planes!), one designed a swimming facility for the CA campus, another turned his passion for woodworking into several beautiful new functional and artistic pieces, another student created fashion and historical stories connected to her Japanese-American heritage, and on and on it goes.

 

Many students have not always been successful going straight ahead on their original concept even when they were confident about their idea at first. They have had to adjust or even scrap their original plan once they hit an unforeseen real-world obstacle. For example, the student who designed the CA natatorium originally wanted to create an adaptive skiing device for disabled athletes, but she shifted gears once certain complicating factors presented themselves. That’s authentic learning!

 

Coordinator Tom Thorpe is looking forward to a new group this year: “With three years of experience--including failures and successes--we now have enough data and anecdotes to help us inform how to give students better feedback and to help them go deeper into the processes and their projects. We also have new faculty interested in teaching in the REDI Lab, which brings new ideas and enthusiasm. With more teachers as part of the learning experience we are able to add more students. The growth and enthusiasm is both exciting and humbling, and we are grateful for the support of the administration and our colleagues.”

 

This innovative program allows students and faculty alike to try out new ideas and concepts, to grow as thinkers and learners, and to find a new ways of collaborating with others. I wish this next cohort of students success in REDI Lab 2019-2020.