Every session, learners vote to choose which work by their peers will be showcased at the exhibition as an example of the hard work put in by each member of the studio during the session. This session, there was a lot of excitement about the Architecture Quest and Podcasts Writer’s Workshop, and there were more submissions for consideration than ever before!

Showing your work to your peers can be intimidating and requires bravery. The elementary learners are well-versed in giving and receiving feedback and approach these situations with confidence. For this exhibition, learners could submit any part of their work in the Architecture Quest—floor plan, elevation sketch, or final model—for voting. Every learner submitted at least one part of their work, and they all evaluated their fellow studiomates’ projects using this sheet as a guide.

Typically when the learners vote on Writer’s Workshop projects to highlight in the exhibition, they read each work in its entirety first. Because there were so many submissions this session, instead of listening to each submitted podcast all the way through, learners listened to two-minute samples instead. They then cast a blind vote, and the top three most-voted podcasts were played during the exhibition.

Systems for voting are a key part of the elementary studio environment. Learners take voting seriously and use it to uphold standards of excellence in the studio. The learners value fairness and hard work, and voting gives them the opportunity to honor fairness and recognize hard work at the end of each session.