It is widely recognized that the most effective learning occurs in a working environment rather than within the confines of a classroom. This is especially crucial in the rapidly changing knowledge and innovation economy.
Ripples@Work (R@W) offers a social media platform for students, teachers, parents, and homeschooling individuals to learn by creating their potential jobs.
Integrated into R@W’s website, Ripplework is a secure knowledge-sharing space that simulates startup-like ventures, allowing participants to explore professional roles of their choice.
This page illustrates the logistics of Ripplework through a modeled case study featuring the fictional SilverWeb High School team. The students explore how recycling tennis balls can become a venture learning opportunity.
In doing so, participants apply their existing knowledge and skills to address a current problem, developing an innovative endeavor with the potential for financial reward.
Ripplework is not just a social media platform; it’s a dynamic space for creating and sharing knowledge.
It provides students with a unique opportunity to explore and understand themselves and the world by modeling startup-like learning ventures in diverse contexts:
- The fast-changing world,
- The global market,
- Growing cultural diversity,
- The rapidly advancing domains of automation and technology.
Meet the SilverWeb High School Team (simulated case study)
James Ripley
SilverWeb
High School,
Senior Year
I have been good at coming up with all sorts of ideas since I was a kid. People are often surprised by what I suggest. They say my ideas are too weird and won’t work. Unfortunately, at school, you never have the opportunity to try them. This project is great because I can come up with ideas and see whether they work.
Caleb Whitney
SilverWeb
High School,
Junior Year
I’m into chemistry and biology. It would be fun to use science and technology in a startup project. But how do you make money from it? Let’s hope we can figure it out.
I also think knowing how to work with others is an essential skill. That’s how startups work, right? It’s not something we learn in school, so learning about it would be really helpful.
Kiara Conway
SilverWeb
High School,
Junior Year
Media is my fav subject. It’s my goal to make a movie that helps people see something important that not many can.
I thought this startup project was an awesome chance to do it together with others.
I like the idea that you can do something you’re interested in and useful to others. Otherwise, why even bother?
Javed Latif
SilverWeb
High School,
Sophomor Year
Programming is cool. It’s abstract, but it’s also practical and powerful. Basically, you’re turning your thoughts into something that can change the world. You can develop a website that millions of people may see and like.
You can create something that didn’t exist before. You can make a small and simple app, and it can change someone’s whole life. I’m gonna give it a try in this project. There’s an opportunity there, I think.
Yasmin Mai
SilverWeb
High School,
Senior Year
I think marketing is getting more critical because there are so many different products on the market. People are getting lost, and they often don’t even know what products are available to solve their problems. It’s becoming more individual, like you have your group of people to take care of. It is not even about the product anymore. You influence a particular type of people, and you know exactly what they need.
Anya Lunof
SilverWeb
High School,
Junior Year
There’s nothing I love more than helping animals, especially the wild. Animals suffer because their habitats are destroyed or because people mistreat them.
What’s great about this project is that it combines your passion with other people’s interests. You feel less alone and can get more respect for what you’re doing as a group. I’m really looking forward to doing something great with this startup.
Flinn Olsen
SilverWeb
High School,
Junior Year
I’m not sure what I like more: web design, marketing, promotion design, or broadcasting. It’s a great opportunity to find out which works best for you.
When we do group work at school, it is always such a burden because everyone waits for someone else to do most of the work. It’s unfair.
We’re gonna work like a startup here. It is a totally different setup.
Mr Ramzi
SilverWeb
High School,
Science Teacher
.
It appears to me that the R@W learning model offers exactly what we miss in our curriculum. We are a great school with multiple excellence awards, but I always felt one thing was missing: training students to apply their knowledge.
You can’t learn about experiencing things by reading a book. You need to practice this in real life over and over again before you understand your highest potential and nurture it.
This is what R@W offers.
Example of SilverWeb High School Ripplework page
The SilverWeb High School team is on a mission to revolutionize tennis ball recycling, sparked by Mr. Ramzi, their science teacher, who shared an impactful YouTube video during class. The video shed light on the environmental toll of discarded tennis balls, taking centuries to decompose.
James, inspired by this information, proposed making it the theme of their learning venture. The team’s goal is to create an efficient tennis ball recycling system with the hope of widespread adoption, reducing overall waste. Simultaneously, they are exploring ways to monetize their project.
Roles within the team were chosen based on individual interests.
Using the Ripplework platform provided by the R@W model, the team established a webpage showcasing their venture team members and links to their individual profiles.
The thread section serves as a chronological presentation of their progress, with Yasmin and Flinn as primary presenters. Their posts feature innovative ideas, helpful tools, and smart data collection methods. To enhance engagement, Yasmin and Flinn share weekly videocasts discussing the team’s learning venture, aiming for recognition within the Rippleswork community.
Inside the Learning Group
Being in the World
James Ripley is a member of the SilverWeb High School startup team. Individually, James actively engages in Being-in-the-World
– R@W’s individual activities.
During the research on the chosen topic, James discovered that for optimal bounce, tennis balls require a rubber coating made from rubber trees in Thailand. However, this method of rubber production can potentially pose a threat to plant and animal biodiversity.
While the group is still in the process of developing ideas for tennis ball recycling, James has taken the initiative to explore the detrimental effects of using trees to produce tennis balls. He has been conversing with experts in the field and establishing social media connections with environmental protection groups.
P.S. A couple of years ago, during a visit to his grandparents’ farm, James encountered a barn owl. James was captivated by its surreal appearance and it left a lasting impression on him. Whenever someone mentions creativity, a vivid image of the barn owl comes to his mind. James used an AI illustrator to create an image of an owl, which he decided to adopt as a symbol of the creative spirit for this project.
Detectives' Board
The text is well-written and provides a clear overview of the SilverWeb startup group’s activities. Here’s a small suggestion for enhanced clarity and flow:
For their group discussions, the SilverWeb startup team initially utilized a Detectives’ Board on the wall in their classroom. However, they later transitioned their collaborative activities to a virtual studio in Figma, finding it more convenient for generating ideas and creating images.
In their collaborative efforts, the students first sought input from ChatGPT on tennis ball recycling ideas. Subsequently, they relied on their own imaginations to explore and expand upon these suggestions. They were delighted to discover that AI played a role in sparking their creativity, but they took the initiative to delve deeper into the ideas.
James particularly admired the concept of constructing a playground castle using recycled tennis balls as building blocks. He found the idea compelling due to the durability of tennis balls as a building material, which may take 400 years to decompose!
However, when James presented the data he had compiled on the extraction of natural rubber from trees, the entire group recognized the significance of addressing this environmental concern.
Cinematic Journal
As James delved into self-reflection through his Cinematic Journal (CJ) and explored the ideas from both his startup peers and his own, he became increasingly convinced that the environmental impact of tennis balls couldn’t be ignored.
The team pondered the necessity for tennis balls to be biodegradable.
What if they could optimize ball bounce by exploring synthetic materials?
Is such a project feasible for them, lacking a proper laboratory and necessary equipment?
How could they monetize their efforts on this project?
The idea of constructing a playground castle with used tennis balls and seeking funding from the city council crossed their minds. Could this funding be utilized for further research and experimentation with alternative materials to replace natural rubber with synthetic ones?
Many questions lie ahead for the SilverWeb High startup team to tackle, offering ample opportunities for learning.