Global learning storm lands in North Idaho

RATHDRUM — North Idaho STEM Charter Academy is taking the world by storm.

A learning storm, to be exact.

The science, technology, engineering and mathematics-minded Rathdrum school was one of only four schools on the planet to participate in the Khan Academy's 2016 LearnStorm kickoff event on Thursday, which included guest speakers, a proclamation from the governor's office and a shockwave of excitement about learning.

The presentations only took place in four locations: Chicago, San Francisco, Ireland and Rathdrum.

"We’ve never had an assembly like this before," said ninth-grader Elyse Mills, 14, after confetti cannons showered the auditorium with streamers. "It’s exciting because this isn’t something we normally do."

LearnStorm is an international learning initiative that encourages students to keep trying even when they fail. It uses a goal and reward system for "mastery" and "hustle." "Mastery" is mastering skills in Khan Academy’s Math Missions at grade level, while "hustle" allows students to earn points for persevering and working at their learning edge.

"In that instance, they’re not going to be getting everything right, so they won’t see their mastery points go up as high, but when they struggle and they continue to work on something that they've gotten wrong before, they’ll get hustle points," explained LearnStorm Idaho coordinator Mia Lincoln. "There’s a couple different pathways. You can win one of the three cups, and in the cups you have to get first, second or third place on the leader boards."

Lincoln said more than 30,000 students in grades three-through-12 across the Gem State are signed up for the LearnStorm challenge, which is free. Individuals and schools will work toward prizes such as cups and pennants as well as a golden ticket to the final LearnStorm celebration in Boise at the end of April. Plus, they will be sharpening their Common Core math skills just in time for the springtime ISAT tests.

"This is a really great time for them to be motivated to practice more math," Lincoln said. "It’s also teaching them about the growth mindset — perseverance and grit — and those are types of character traits and skills that if we can get students to adopt toward learning early, it will continue to benefit them throughout their education and throughout their lives."

Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization on a mission to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. It provides practice exercises, instructional videos and online tools to help students from kindergarten to college excel in math. It was founded by American math teacher Sal Khan, who gave a shout-out to North Idaho STEM Charter Academy in a LearnStorm video that was presented at the event.

"We were really excited they wanted to come," said Colleen Thomson, the school's director of instruction. "And then to hear Sal Khan say the name of our school ... Sal Khan said our school!"

Thomson said LearnStorm contacted the school to participate because Khan Academy is a big part of its learning process and criteria.

"It's exciting because they’re used to it," she said. "The kids know that failure is just a step in the process toward success, so they’re not afraid to take a challenge."

Guest speaker Andrew Cook — COO of xCraft, a Sandpoint-based, forward-thinking company working on the next-generation unmanned aerial vehicle platform — said he was happy to bring a drone to show the students to get them excited about technology careers.

"For me personally, I didn’t have any opportunities like this as a kid. It was hard for me; I had to do it myself," Cook said. "Allowing these kids to have that kind of step up is great and I really encourage it."

Eighth-grader Sam Beals, 14, said the assembly inspired him to work harder at mastering slope-intercept form, which can be a tricky math undertaking.

But Sam, along with the rest of the students, is ready for the challenge.

"I think it’s true that anybody can learn anything," Sam said.

Students and schools can still sign up to improve their math skills and have fun along the way through the Khan Academy's LearnStorm 2016 until the end of the challenge on April 5.

Info: www.learnstorm2016.org