Grant Poujade

“Forest Park Mindstorm”, Poujade’s innovative teaching idea, will help students learn how technology works instead of them just using it.  The program will increase the opportunities for exploration, creativity, design, entrepreneurship, and collaboration. Designed for  students in the second through fifth grades, the activities will become increasingly complex based on the students’ grade level. Each  student will participate in multiple activities, at least one workshop and a final presentation at the school’s maker fair. In the “maker  program”, the students will invent new technology; build items such as rockets or flashlights with chap stick, program with logic blocks,  blend art and technology with electronic origami, design Glowdoodles, and program using circuit boards, LED lights, levers and buttons.  They will even use Makey Makey invention kits to turn bananas into a keyboard or a piano. Pujade, who lives in Portland, wants the  program to help the 350 students develop and refine their abilities to think creatively and work collaboratively.