Gabriel Yoder-Shenk of West Windsor, a student at the Studio for Experiential Learning on Bellevue Avenue in Trenton, was among the early visitors to the first hydro and solar-powered house in North America — the home of inventor Mike Strizki in Hopewell.##M:[more]##
Gabriel, 9, is in fourth grade at the small, private day school. There are five students in his class, which spans grades 3 and 4. “I compare it to the one-room school house of my dad’s generation,” says his mother, Cynthia Yoder. “The older children in other classes sometimes help the younger ones, and there are all-school activities such as trips to museums, art galleries, and parks.”
For the students, in grades 3 to 12, the school is a home school away from home, in which students often take field trips to have real-life learning experiences.
Strizki, the solar power innovator, is acting on bringing workable alternative energy ideas to the next generation. The visit by the Studio for Experiential Learning is the first-ever student tour of the house, which also serves as Strizki’s own residence. The house combines photovoltaic solar, electrolyzer, fuel cell, computer software, and other technologies. Yoder-Shenk and other students got to visit with the inventor and get a hands-on look at his inventions and gadgets.
“Mr. Strizki’s work is our students’ future,” says Margee Doscher, founder and director of the Studio for Experiential Learning. “We’re delighted that our students will have the opportunity to be introduced to these innovations in an experiential way.”
“This kind of student contact with a living, working inventor is what brings the studio philosophy into reality,” says Doscher. “This experience, of having direct contact with an inventor and his inventions, is what makes the information personal to the students — it makes the information their own.
