We are very proud to share that Lou Lahana, PS 188 Mouse Squad Coordinator, and two of his students are featured in "Smarter Than You Think," a new text by Clive Thompson, contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and columnist for Wired!

Lou and his students, Ruben and Esmil, are included in his chapter on "Digital School" as a shining example of experimental learning by designing sophisticated games and animations.

Our thanks to Clive Thompson for also sharing information from his visit to Lou Lahana's classroom in his article in The Guardian.

Here is an excerpt from his article:

Teachers who understand this insight have begun to transform their classrooms. One day I visited the class of Lou Lahana, a computer teacher at a school in a low-income area. I met one student who was frequently in trouble, with a bad truancy record and rock-bottom grades – a classic drop-out risk. But in Lahana's class, he had discovered a talent using 3D SketchUp software. The student began to produce gorgeous renderings of famous buildings, which Lahana posted online for the world to see.

"I could be an architect," he told me, as I watched him sketch a version of New York's Guggenheim Museum on screen. "This is the first thing I've seen where I thought, OK, I get this, I love this – I could do this."