Ask for a tour through the Verizon Innovative Learning Lab at Hammocks Middle School in Miami, FL, and you’ll glimpse student-created virtual reality (VR) worlds and a lab full of next-gen tech. In the Verizon Lab, students knock down bowling pins using robots, which they learn to operate through coding and apps. Lois Seaman, a Lab Mentor, used a lesson plan on robotics, one of many lessons freely available to educators on Verizon Innovative Learning HQ, to structure the day’s activities.

The Verizon Innovative Learning Lab program is a multi-year initiative that integrates emerging technology, such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and 3D printing, with a student-centered curriculum in a custom-designed lab. The Lab curriculum encourages students to adopt a design-thinking approach to problem-solving: to empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test (and often retest!) an innovative, multi-disciplinary and human-centric way to create deeper understanding, uncover insights and develop effective solutions to challenges.

Verizon Innovative Learning Labs, along with an associated curriculum developed in partnership with the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovative Institute at Arizona State University, empower schools all over the country to become hubs of innovation. The Lab helps students reach the heights of their own creativity, says Seaman.

Educators can freely access similar lessons, professional development and learning apps, including the augmented reality app Verizon Innovative Learning lab Online, via Verizon’s education portal at verizon.com/learning. It’s all part of Citizen Verizon, the company’s responsible business plan to help move the world forward for all.

Are you an educator? Click here for free and engaging STEM lesson plans and apps: https://www.verizon.com/learning

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