BIG IDEAS MAKE A BIG IMPACT 

May 1, 2023

When Woodbridge High School teacher Daniel Pilchman came to IPSF with his idea to teach students about waves, electricity, magnetism, and engineering by constructing and playing electric guitars, we awarded him an IPSF Innovation Grant to bring this big idea to life!   

The Makerspace Guitar Project is a collaboration between Woodbridge High School’s Makerspace and the Physics department that leverages students’ love of music and performance to help them engage with the most abstract and complex concepts in the high school science curriculum.    

“I am already getting students who come back and tell me they are only passing physics because they learned electricity and magnetism with their guitar,” explains Pilchman. “This project makes students who haven’t wanted to come to school for a long time want to come to school, to stay after, to work during lunch, to learn on the weekend. I saw this project rekindle a lot of flames.”  

This year, IPSF was excited to award Pilchman and Woodbridge an additional multi-year grant totaling $30,000 to help expand upon this successful program as The Makerspace Goes to College, with new progressive courses to be launched across next few years in animatronics and dual enrollment courses with Irvine Valley College in advanced design and prototyping.

The Innovative Grants Program allows IPSF to make an immediate impact in classrooms by supporting new approaches to teaching and learning that continue to push innovation forward in our schools. With generous support from families like yours through Parents Appreciating Teachers and Staff (PATS), IPSF is able to support innovative projects like this and ensure Irvine’s place at the leading edge of educational excellence.