With ground-breaking public-private partnerships, Chula Vista Elementary School District is cultivating young dreamers and innovators whose understanding of their own strengths guides authentic inquiry and discovery. Michael Bruder, Chula Vista Instructional Services Coordinator in the Innovation and Instruction Department, and his team of educators are creating immersive, industry-aligned learning experiences that ignite the imaginations of 4th through 6th-grade students.
Students begin their adventure by using Thrively to unlock their strengths, share their interests, and reveal their aspirations. “Our Station experiences are enriched by being able to use Thrively to connect with students on a deeper level, so that we can unpack their strengths and interests with them and build more meaningful relationships in the time that we are with them. In addition, students become more engaged with the experience when we are able to customize it around their personal strengths, interests, and career aspirations.”
These young innovators then embark on a journey of discovery where they explore their region’s priority sectors: health care, energy/ construction/ utilities, and information and communication technologies/digital media. They learn about the work activities and requisite skills for each career pathway and have a chance to watch day-in-the-life videos about real practitioners. Before students participate in these STEAM experiences at the Innovation, Energy, Hydro, or Health Stations, their classroom teachers launch them on a path of self-discovery. We wanted our students to be able to name their strengths and claim them. Thrively gives us confidence that their strengths are surfaced with accuracy,” explained Bruder.
This accuracy is the result of decades of research conducted by pediatric neuropsychologists Jonine Biesman and Jayme Neiman-Kimel, who designed and then tested the Thrively Strengths Assessment for three years before it was launched.
“Our aim has always been to help students explore their strengths, interests and values. When we discovered Thrively, we found the perfect opportunity to align our objectives with a research-based assessment,” stated Bruder.
Career exploration, informed by self-awareness, has been wildly successful in Chula Vista. When students have an opportunity to explore passions, take intellectual risks, and engage in discovery, they are embodying the core values that drive the work of their industry-sector partners. “When students have the opportunity to explore their interests and find their passion, it helps our team to connect them with careers that they might be interested in,” shared Bruder. Once student interests are known, the innovation team helps students to create and pursue goals. Bruder sees goal orientation as a key component to helping young people pursue “what they love” and work towards their goals.
“Being able to differentiate our instruction based on the information provided from the Thrively Strengths Assessment not only shapes our interactions with our students, it also allows us to customize it to best fit them. This makes all the difference for our most important stakeholder, our students!”