Since 2009, we've been prototyping tools, materials, and experiences demonstrating more effective and humane perspectives on learning. These are some of the programs and projects we've developed, partners we've worked with, and names we've worked under along the way.

Selected Work

2019-2021
Graph comparing average heart rate when lying versus telling the truth

Modeling Algebra

Creating project-based development kits for high school mathematics via modeling

2018-2020
The High Meadow Graduate School fo Teaching and Learning website reading, "Take teaching in a new direction."

Redesigning Educator Licensure

Creating a novel teacher licensure program in digital literacy and computer science, from scratch

2019-2020
A sketch of a head with a pie chart where the brain goes, broken down into things like: thirst, hunger, social, fixation, to do, anxiety/anger

Design for Anxiety

Design and prototyping as a path to dealing with anxiety, tailored for people with autism

2019-2020
A group of young people sit with a teacher in the grass in front of Applewild's main building, laughing

Prospect Studio

Advising on a place- and project-based freshman gap year at Applewild, a Chapter 766 school

2013-2019
Covered outdoor walkways at the Powder House Community Campus

[Almost] a New District School

Trying to start an in-district "Innovation School" centering projects exploring computation, narrative, and design

2014-2019
A slide from the Powderhouse Studios design process providing an overview of an enrollment system which ensured the school's population would match the demographics of Somerville Public Schools

Equitable Enrollment Algorithms

Legal and technical solutions to discriminate by race, gender, and class to prevent school-level segregation

2016-2019
The homepage to the student project Doodle Date

Creative Computing

Creative explorations in screen-based and physical computing

2017-2019
A whiteboard shows the results of a design exercise walking through a project timeline with markers and post-it notes

Atlas

Rendering messy, project-based work legible to traditional standards through software

2009-2018
A demo of digital interaction in which small, multicolored bubbles follow the mouse pointer

Digital Storytelling

Programs exploring how software and hardware can support new forms of storytelling

2009-2018
A whiteboard filled with sketches of circles and spheres with mathematical equations all around

Turtle Geometry

Exploring differential geometry and topology through LOGO

2014-2018
A screenshot of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website explaining the Digital Literacy and Computer Science standards

DLCS Standards

Developing Massachusetts' standards for Digital Literacy and Computer Science

2015-2018
Two people work together at the same computer in the Fabville space

Fabville

Designing, securing funding for, and launching a community fabrication lab in Somerville High School

2016-2018
The program listing from the Healey STEAM website, including Machines that Move, Invisible Forces, Two Voices, and more.

Healey STEAM

Piloting our proposed Innovation School design all-day, year-round with 7th and 8th grades at the Healey

2009-2016
A crowd gathers inside sprout in a garage, sitting and standing, eating and talking

Spaghetti Dinners

A monthly food, music, and performance series exploring cross-disciplinary themes

2009-2014
The cover of the book Vehicles, Experiments in Synthetic Psychology by Valentino Braitenberg

Signs of Life

Interdisciplinary explorations of what it means for something to be "alive" through software, hardware, and art

2011-2013
A detail shot of a concert flute beside a pair of calipers

Flutes & Waves

Exploring how sound works by building and experimenting with flutes from scratch

2009-2012
sprout board member Beth O'Sullivan works with a participant at Bring Your Grandma to Math Day

Bring Your Grandma to Math

Workshops bringing people of all ages together to play with mathematics, for fun

2010
A close-up of fingers holding a small gem object with veinating patterns inside

Simulation & Nature in Design

Simulating natural phenomena to design, prototype, and fabricate art

2010
A shot from below of the crankshaft and gear that powered the whole machine

Streetbeest

Building a giant, walking sculpture for HONK! through community-driven design

Selected Partners

XQ Institute logo
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institute-for-progress.png
Shady Hill School logo
Barr Foundation logo
Educause logo
applewild.png
harvard-extension.png
Center for Collaborative Education logo
Perrone-Sizer Institute logo
Somerville Public Schools logo
Boston Public Schools logo
high-meadows.png
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education logo
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nervous-system.png
Asperger/Autism Network logo
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Google logo
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Past Lives

sprout & co's homepage, reading "Our mission is to make science a cultural activity"

Making science a cultural activity as sprout & co

Powderhouse Studios' old homepage, reading "Come invent the future of learning with us"

Trying to start an in-district high school as Powderhouse Studios