Learning Empowers
Learning celebrates the spirit of childhood
of wonderment, discovery, exploration, and creativity.
Learning believes in children's abilities to figure things out;
Every child brings unique abilities and perspectives.
Learning respects every culture.
Human minds are fabrics of civilization's complex strands.
Children, like all people, are a complex mix--
Multidimensional, like crystals, with light, they shine.
Learning engages the senses as channels of information and communication
Because what we feel and touch, what we see and read, and the scents we smell
Align us to the universe and the world, fueling our everyday life and growth.
When we speak and listen to words
When our hands touch to play instruments,
Sound, rhythm, melody, and harmony,
Our ears hear and our minds create meanings
Learning keeps hearts beating.
Learning cultivates free and thoughtful thinkers
Unafraid to ask questions. Imagine divergent possibilities.
Learning is interacting with communities of individuals and communities
It is collective and personal; transactional and internal.
When we learn, we change. Learning empowers. Living is exciting.
Gigi Carunungan, Ed.D.
Gigi Carunungan is an experienced education leader with over 30 years of experience. She is driven by her passion for reinventing education and focuses on developing learning environments that optimize students' potential. Gigi's expertise lies in designing integrated, thematic, and hands-on future-driven curricula. She has also created successful school-wide programs, summer camps, and both in-person and online after-school programs.
As a co-founder, Gigi led the learning design of two K-8 schools in Silicon Valley: Synapse School (2007-2012) and Imagination School (2015-2018). Under her leadership, students thrived and excelled with deep-dive, thematic, active, and creative hands-on education solutions.
Gigi is the innovator behind the Helical Model™, a groundbreaking constructivist learning system rooted in neuroscience. This model consists of five stages of learning: play, explore, connect, imagine, and remember. Students engage in analytical, creative, hands-on, social, and project-driven learning experiences. The dynamic and open-ended lessons provide teachers with effective solutions that cater to different types and levels of learners.
These transformative learning environments foster a sense of interest, joy, and excitement in learning. Students discover their passions, collaborate with peers, and connect their learning activities with real-world solutions and professions.
Gigi also co-founded and served as the Chief Learning Architect of Playnovate, an offline-online science learning lab; Young Outliers, a design-oriented STEAM summer camp; and Game Changers, a teen design entrepreneurship program. She also taught "Math Methods" for the teacher credentialing program at San Jose State University. In her doctoral dissertation on math stories, Gigi conducted a field study where children learned math concepts they had struggled with for an entire semester, through a single book. She authored four math storybooks.
Gigi is also the author of "Digital Media in the Classroom," a teacher's guide that offers creative lessons in the form of games and projects utilizing the web, graphics, presentation, and movie editing software.