Maybe you’ve heard of “Genius Hour,” inspired by Google, with the company legendarily giving employees time to work on projects that interested them, rather than the assignments they were given. For the past six weeks, two classes at Alki Elementary got that chance – one hour per week during which third- and fourth-graders “were given free range to investigate and study a topic of their choice,” as teacher Anna Coghill put it. On Friday, students in her class and Kelli Soccorsy‘s class showed off those projects, and invited us to come have a look along with some other visitors (including the parents who gave us permission to feature their kids). Top photo, Charlotte‘s project was recycling art; next, Julian put together a tutorial on the history of perhaps the most famous superhero ever, Superman:

And in our final photo, with Alki’s first-year principal Shannon Stanton, is Owen, whose “Genius Hour” project involved engineering a catapult:

While Google is believed to have moved away from the “Genius Hour” type of time allotment, it’s a thriving idea in schools, with projects like the one the Alki students and teachers have just completed.