We strive to give students everything they need to excel in an increasingly interconnected world.
Overview
Middle School students have access to technology and makerspaces that bring their learning to life. All these tools allow students to pursue collaborative, inquiry-based tasks, learning to evaluate the validity and salience of the information and the importance of STEM principles
technology
When our students enter Middle School, each is equipped with a personal iPad as an organizational tool. Assignments, textbooks, and other learning materials are aggregated using content management software. Our students regularly conduct online research, videoconference with students and experts across the country via Zoom and email fellow students in foreign countries. Our teachers work to integrate technology into every aspect of the curriculum, and they participate in regular training so that they’re guiding students using the latest instructional innovations.
Our curriculum uses technology in the following ways:
- Science and math classes use applications that graph complex problems and explore the biological structures of organisms, and they track data on spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel.
- Humanities teachers use tools that foster responsible research methods and that help students create videos for the world to see.
- Language classes immerse students in the language via technology that reinforces the spoken word, the written word, and related cultures.
- Sixth-graders explore resource databases for research, and are introduced to 3-D design with Tinkercad software and coding in the programming language Processing.
- Seventh-graders use a variety of websites for simulations that allow them to manipulate variables; they also participate in a virtual stock market game as part of a cross-curricular math and social studies lesson.
- Eighth-graders create animations and conduct research using a range of digital tools.
Makerspaces
In the Middle School Innovation Lab, seventh-graders develop inventive, creative solutions to real-world problems. They interview “clients” to understand challenges and then design, sketch, and build and modify prototypes to address clients’ needs. In a culminating exhibition, they present prototypes to a panel of visiting scientists and engineers. In addition to being a formal part of the curriculum, the Innovation Lab hums with activity when students stop by during their lunchtime to work on on-going projects.