FROM THE HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL DR. LIZ DAVIS
STEAM FOCUSED, PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING AT ALTA VISTA MIDDLE SCHOOL
At AVS Middle School, our STEAM program brings together different disciplines to deepen and personalize student learning. Students are consistently making connections across classes and subject areas as our teachers integrate different approaches to academic exploration and the application of knowledge. Our STEAM units intentionally engage students through problem- based interdisciplinary projects centered around an overarching problem or scenario. In our problem-based learning approach, students are presented with an authentic problem to understand and find ways to solve. This past year, our sixth grade Spanish, English, math, science, and social studies teachers collaborated to create a project in which students examined Latin American countries’ responses to climate change and used their research to make recommendations on how our own region can prepare for the same. Students studied the climate models in science, weighed pertinent geographical facts in social studies, analyzed their data in math, wrote and prepared informational pamphlets and presentation decks in English class, and finally presented them (en Español!) in Spanish class. Ultimately, students integrated and applied aspects of each discipline into a tangible product and a deeper understanding of a global challenge.
6
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting