program overview

We believe that students need to be raised in the sciences in order to be prepared for the world. We develop a fearless love of science and an awareness of the interconnections between STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and the arts and humanities.

The sciences are interwoven with all aspects of learning at Acera. With our focus on systems thinking and problem solving, a deep focus on sciences and their interconnections with all disciplines are cornerstones of the Acera approach.

This manifests through the following:

Thematic STEM Learning Across the Curriculum: 

Essential questions in classrooms interrelate with fields of scientific study and inquiry. Themes between years evolve and have included thematic topics like ecosystems, climate change, design/re-design, biomimicry, flight and space, geology, Newton’s Laws of Motion, and evolution. From year- to-year, deeper investigations into particular engineering topics occur, including structural, frugal, sustainable, mechanical, electrical, and optical engineering.

  Science comes into every classroom and space at Acera, as students build batteries with dirt, make bridges leveraging a variety of strategies, and invent mobile oceanic structures. Always, scientific and engineering topics interrelate with great questions of humanity: "How do civilizations form?" "What is the impact humans have upon the world around them?" "How can we be positive stewards of the earth?" "How can we recognize challenges and lead positive change that respects the perspectives of others?"

• Adrienne is also embedded with Anastasia’s class, and will include many engineering design units such as automata, enchanted electronics, squishy circuits, paper circuits, wearable electronics, and ceramics.

• In Emily’s class, the theme will be Adapt and Evolve and science topics over the year will include space science, ecosystems and human biology.  

Computer Science and Technology Education: Computer science and technology are woven into our program across all years, in a way that evolves as new computer science languages and tools emerge, and in a way built around a students’ interests and motivation.

  Over the years, programming languages which have shown up in our school have included Scratch, Processing, CoSpaces EDU, Python, Javascript, Twine, MakeCode, Arduino, and others.

Students often start off in early elementary learning about computer science components through hands-on robotics tools and through our unique program, “Understanding Computers, Understanding Ourselves,” created by two Acera teachers. Students most invested in this area progress through telling interactive stories in Twine and developing worlds in Scratch and begin to create ways to visualize data, make video games, and bring a wide array of projects alive.

  Some students get deeply invested and become facile with microcontrollers such as Arduino or Microbits, or with programming in virtual reality. Many students gain skills in audio recording, for sounds and to mix music, and in filmmaking and video editing for films or stop-motion animation movies. Students are encouraged to integrate technology and a wide array of self-expression tactics into their learning experience.
 

  Some amount of computer science learning is offered every year in every classroom, in ways that evolve to fit each class group in their talents and interests

The Tech Hub: The Tech Hub is a zone in the central Commons area of the school, and enables access to PodCast, PhotoShop, fixes and troubleshooting, and an array of constantly growing new tools, including an array of 3D printers. Concurrently, student leadership in the Tech Hub area, by middle school and upper elementary students, enables students to gain skills and become known in the community as resources to help others.

 Inno Lab: The Innovation Lab Design Studio enables connections between students’ ideas and stories with access to electronics, soldering, circuitry, hacking, micro-computing, robotics, arts and aesthetics to bring their ideas alive as e-textiles or models or interactive objects that light up and share the designer’s story.

Engineering: The Woodshop is a place where engineering comes alive in the form of projects. Students learn to use tools to build basic projects to start and, as their skills increase, have the autonomy for more complicated and creative projects. The time in the woodshop can relate back to a classroom theme (building the coldframe and compost bins to go with the unit on “What Nourishes Us”) or a student's individual initiatives or small group projects (ex: making a wooden chest or bench, building a scooter or bookshelf, creating and installing new play or garden structures to go onto the playground).

Science Lab: All students in Upper Elementary and Middle School have weekly Science Lab times. Students engage in the doing of science and experience the interconnection between creativity, scientific thinking and problem solving, and connections back to the real world and current day innovations. 

Instruction and Integration: Specialist teachers, who have deep training and work experience in fields of engineering, biotechnology, computer science and beyond, enable learning and growth through collaborative, hands-on projects that weave throughout the curriculum. They use the tools of technology and science to express ideas, tell stories, and create novel projects and electronic portfolios about what they are learning. There is always meaning in the work. Students use these tools to deepen learning and explore how things work and express their ideas; the tool is a means of expression.