NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — At one point or another, you've probably come across those neighborhood boxes that look like a very large birdhouse.
Sometimes they're free neighborhood pantries for non-perishable foods, or they can be Little Free Libraries.
The Forge spent Monday at Aventura Community School in Nashville working to build one of those libraries.
"To see how they light up whenever they do something new, whenever there's a concept that they grasp but there's a light that goes on for them," said Mitchell Green, a volunteer with The Forge Future Maker's Program.
The program is a non-profit, and one component of the mission it to give today's youth an opportunity to explore their creative potential through hands-on learning.
Through these activities, they work to incorporate concepts of science, technology, engineering, art, and math into the hands-on projects.
"Today, some of them used the drill for the first time," said Carlos Calderon, the STEM Coordinator at Aventura Community School. "And you saw the line. 'I want to drill, I want to drill.' That's part of the engagement."
The students all line up to use the drill in the player above.
Calderon is familiar with this group of first graders. He says he worked with them last year as well.
"You see they were able to to immediately recognize what are the parts of the tools that they're using to build the house, the right angle, why the house has to be in a perfect shape," he said.
"It's really rewarding and it's a big part of why we do what we do," Green said.
My friend and colleague Carrie Sharp had a lot of fun last week, on an adventure to a country more than three thousand miles away! She’s back now – sharing her Adventures in Iceland through stories, and incredible images of this remarkably beautiful and unique island nation (kudos to Chief Photographer Catherine Steward)! But did you know Nashville has something very important in common with Iceland? Tourism! Here, Carrie explains how a volcanic eruption decades ago helped save the country’s economy from collapse!
-Rhori Johnston
