First Phase Complete!

Cameron M -

Hi everyone!

I attended the Sphere 100 conference this past weekend, listening to various guest speakers on how to promote engagement in the classroom as well as participating in mock simulations myself. Some of the many individuals who spoke include: Professor John E. Schwarz, Jeffrey A. Singer, and many others associated with the Sphere 100 project. After working through the event’s activities and meeting with my supervisor Allan Carey, our project design was confirmed and validated. That is, we could move it into classrooms at BASIS!

Since then, I have worked in Mr. Hermann’s and Mr. Klugman’s classrooms to implement our project, issuing surveys to measure the class climate and centering this lesson around the TikTok ban. Students from both classes embodied a specific stakeholder, asked each other questions, and eventually came up with a solution that encompassed every one’s interests, at least to the best of their abilities. I collected students’ solution worksheets and individual feedback forms that I will implement in the qualitative side of my research. The first worksheet outlines the ways in which the students reached their solution, and the second gives me an understanding on what to improve for later seminars.

Having both classes first trial data and simulation worksheets, I have been able to start tabulating my data. Next week, I will be working in Mr. Johnson’s classroom to gather information for an eighth grade classroom, as well as create a shared numbering and valuing system to measure the students’ asserted claims.

More to come,

Cameron Mirmelli

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Comments:

All viewpoints are welcome but profane, threatening, disrespectful, or harassing comments will not be tolerated and are subject to moderation up to, and including, full deletion.

    shaheer_r
    Hey Cameron! I'm sorry I missed out on your intro post. I had some trouble figuring out how to comment. Your project seems not only cool but meaningful for everyone, everywhere. I know you talked about implementing it in BASIS classrooms and how your issue is one for all of K-12. That being said, do you plan on implementing your project for all grades at BASIS and maybe even at the primary school near us?
    February 11, 2025 at 9:33 pm - Reply
      cameron_m
      That's a good question. Unfortunately, this project will be limited to our upper school students (8th and up). However, we are creating curriculums & a website that Sphere 100 can promote to other schools around the country.
      February 11, 2025 at 10:13 pm - Reply
    collin_h
    Hi Cameron, in response to you saying students from each class will represent a stakeholder does that mean each class is its "own" stakeholder discussing questions and solutions with the other class or is it all broken up within each class?
    February 11, 2025 at 9:40 pm - Reply
      cameron_m
      Hey Colin, this is a good question too. Essentially, students will be broken up into groups of 4-5 and have a random stakeholder assigned to them. For instance, on the TikTok ban topic, some students represented "Congress" while others represented "Byte Dance," completely independent from their personal opinions. These groups of 4-5 will come up with a solution and pose it to the class as a whole.
      February 11, 2025 at 10:15 pm - Reply
    aswita_k
    Hey Cameron! Your project sounds really interesting and I look forward to keeping up with it! How do you plan to refine the project based on the feedback forms, and were there any insights from the first trial data?
    February 12, 2025 at 11:15 am - Reply
      cameron_m
      Hey Aswita! Yes, I have already made some changes to my initial design! For instance, when I was working with Mr. Klugman's class, I found that there were some students who were dominating the conversation. So... giving them a 6 minute period in general to ask each other questions... didn't mean everyone was getting/asking them. Observing this, I decided to give each stakeholder an increment of time to be asked questions, so they all could have a chance. For the next simulation, I will be reviewing the feedback forms and see if there are more ways I can ensure these students feel as if their voice is being heard.
      February 16, 2025 at 8:38 am - Reply

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