Last week, Friday actually was PHI-day, as someone put it. Twenty-one classes across five departments during four periods came through the Pearse Hub for Innovation (PHI) on November 15.  

The PHI hosts classes all the time, but this was something to behold, students converging on the PHI from all over campus. Bees to the nest, and things were buzzing. 

Why so many? “Because Scott can’t say no,” came the answer. The PHI is all about can-do, not can’t-do. Scott is Scott MacClintic ’82, the director of innovation, who was amped as usual, maybe a bit more so. A day like this brings a smile to his face. 

“What this means to me is that people have leaned into the fact that the process being the product is a valuable way to think about things,” Scott said. “When classes are down here, it is very much about the process, which we think is important and valuable and transferable across disciplines. To be able to see this many classes leaning into that requires [students] being able to navigate ambiguity, being willing to do things that don’t always work, take risks. And for teachers it means ceding control, which can be difficult, and I am happy we have a number of colleagues who lean into that and let us help them and their students make some cool things.” 

One of those “cool” things was creating an expansion to a historical simulation game developed by former history teacher Mark Williams called “Silk, Spices and Gold.” In that game students in World History: Systems of Justice and Injustice are introduced to the realities of commercial exchange in the Middle Ages as they assume roles as traders, caravanners, miners, and merchants throughout the Eastern Hemisphere.  The three classes of World History students who gathered in the PHI in the morning divided into groups to develop their ideas. The groups will pitch their ideas to their class and teacher to close out the term. First, they would pitch to fellow students. 

Scott roamed back and forth checking on the progress of the students who were closing in on suggesting an add-on to the game. Teachers, in this case Lauren Williams, Rick Taylor, and Alexander Peña, attended to their students, seeing if they needed help and talking through ideas. The groups jotted down their ideas on the PHI tables, which also serve as whiteboards. When done, they flipped the tabletop whiteboards for all to see. They were then ready to make their first pitches of their ideas.  

“The way we do this is called ‘having a board meeting,’ so once you have your board set, you invite another team over for feedback,” Scott told the students.  

He then coached the crew on the characteristics of quality feedback: be honest, be specific, and provide actionable suggestions, as in, “Have you considered ...” No generalities or superlatives that might sound nice but say little. That doesn’t help. Or, as Scott said, it’s not feedback, it’s “feedbad.” 

While all this was going on with the World History students, Larry Brackney’s physics students were building ramps in another part of the PHI. The ramps eventually will be used for experiments involving rolling lacrosse balls down those ramps.  Students will take measurements and make calculations to predict velocity and acceleration and where the ball would land. 

In the afternoon, biology classes were among those using the PHI for a final project. One of the students, freshman Phoenix Olen, was involved in three projects in the PHI, for his World History, biology, and 3D Fabrication courses. Taking his studies from the classroom to the PHI offered him the opportunity to create, he said.   

“Coming here, it tells me that No. 1, I’m going to have a really fun time because this place is filled with some really cool things to play around with,” Phoenix said, “but it also tells me I'm going to be doing a lot of building and blueprinting and crafting. And that’s what I want to be: a game developer. Having something like the PHI where I can sketch things out, put things on the laser printer, sand things down and spray paint them, it’s all creation. So coming down to the PHI for me means I'm going to create something I love ... and it’s mine.” 

As Scott said as he was moving about in the afternoon, “You’re seeing how the sausage is made.” Yes, it’s about the process. 

The last session in the PHI ended at 3:20 p.m., but the day did not. The PHI also is home to the robotics program, which used the room until 5:30 p.m. 

From its beginnings, the PHI was envisioned as a place to come, collaborate, and create. To continue on the theme of words beginning with “c,” the students in the PHI on Friday were curious, contemplative, and captivated.  

Classes and their teachers: 

8:30–9:40 a.m.: five classes: World History (Rick Taylor, Alexander Peña, Caroline Murphy); physics (Larry Brackney), and biology (Justin Daniels). 

11 a.m.–12:10 p.m.: seven classes: World History (Rick Taylor, Alexander Peña, Lauren Williams) physics (Larry Brackney), biology (Justin Daniels), Problem Solving for the Common Good (Scott MacClintic), and some students in 3D Fabrication & Craft (christian ryan). 

12:20–2 p.m.: five classes: World History (Rick Taylor, Caroline Murphy), physics (Larry Brackney), Manufacturing, Problem Solving, and Entrepreneurship (Scott MacClintic), and some students in Literature of the Bible (Katharine Conklin). 

2:10-3:20 p.m.: four classes: World History (Kevin Henderson, Caroline Murphy), biology (Kendall Downend), and Developmental Psychology (Skyler Dovi).