Blue Dot

At Blue Dot, it's not just about creating learning experiences for kids, but helping school systems to be more grounded in collective, community learning. Over the past few years, they have created conditions for school systems to organically grow in partnership with their communities, going from placing a couple of telescopes out on a football field to hosting community-led STEAM fairs.

The journey started with the technology departments' desire to host a STEM learning event - two telescopes out on the field. It was so popular that they hosted it again; only this time, with hot dogs. Demand continued to increase, so Blue Dot began working with teachers in classrooms, taking the learning from the field to the classroom and back out again. The STEM nights turned into regular STEAM nights, two to three times per year, where teachers, students, clubs, and community members shared their learning and hosted interactive stations. It wasn't just space anymore, but science, engineering, and art, including baile folklórico.

In the process of bringing these different topics together, district departments began working more closely together, too; people across the district saw the value in learning together. Even transportation got in on the action, with the bus driver embracing spontaneous moments to stop and let kids play in nature. In this way, both the community and the central office system were brought together to partner in new ways.

What started as a small evening event turned into a full-blown community-based learning system. Rather than starting with a large new learning initiative, Blue Dot guided district leaders through iterative, reflective cycles that allowed the learning to grow on its own.