We started the day at Castilleja, an independent, all girls, grades 6 to 12 school in Palo Alto. Our connection: Casti's head of school, Nancy Kaufmann, formerly taught music at Marymount! And for the past two years, Marymount has partnered with Castilleja to host "Design, Do, Discover," a professional development experience for teachers that focuses on maker education.
Castilleja School, Palo Alto
Our day started in the Bourn Idea Lab, Castilleja's maker lab and digital fabrication studio! Marymount and Castilleja girls worked together to design a car powered only by a rubber band! There were sone very innovative designs and some creative collaborations between the girls.
Then it was off to class! Our girls - as well as Ms. McKenzie-Hamilton and Ms. Webster - sat in on a variety of classes, including Advanced Topics in Physics, the American Political System and Advanced Topics in Chinese. The day ended with a tour of the campus and lunch, as well as the opportunity to engage in deeper conversations with their Castilleja peers. What topics resonated with our students: the (perceived) lax uniform guidelines and the fact that Castilleja starts school at 9 AM on Thursdays!
It was then off to Stanford's Center for Clinical Sciences Research. CCSR's work focuses on understanding the human body through specimen analysis and representing the body through digital representations.
We first experienced their work in cadaveric specimens by looking a variety of human preserved specimens. It wasn't Grey's Anatomy but more like Rodgers on Law and Order (She's the character who worked in the morgue).
CCSR also works in the digital realm through augmented reality.
CCSR has developed a 3D system for professors and students that allows them to investigate various parts of the human body in great detail. Using Z-space and 3D technology, you can zoom into specific regions of the body, highlight that area as well as rotate, zoom and transform that region.
Students also got to explore virtual reality using an Oculus Rift, a VR headset that allows people to experience new worlds. CCSR has a new App (to be released soon) that allows users to experience VR using their phones in conjunction with a device called Google Cardboard (we kid you not!)
Don't be surprised to be both tools at Marymount in the near future!
We wrapped up our tour of CCSR by experiencing the Anatomage Medical Table. To quote their website, "The anatomage table is the only system that can display true human gross anatomy in real-life size." We were able to investigate a real ectopic pregnancy, siamese twins (before separation) and a human head shot by a bullet. These digital representations were of real humans, but, as with the other VR systems, allow the user to highlight, zoom and analyze specific areas.
After a short walk across campus, with a number of references to Gabriella and High School Musical 3, we arrived at the bookstore! The Stanford swag flew off the shelves and everyone agreed that Stanford would be a top college choice! The feel of the campus infused us all with a desire to become "life long learners!"
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