18-19 TBA STEAM Studio Planning & Piloting

Continued learning

• A STEAM Studio staff member will alternate group training sessions with in-classroom or in-makerspace coaching
• Visits to Greater Lawrence Technical School (GLTS), where TechBoston Academy staff observe STEAM Studio classes and meet with GLTS teachers and students in order to learn from their experiences implementing the STEAM Studio model
• TechBoston Academy staff complete MIT Lemelson Program for Invention workshop to foster the habits of thinking and acting as inventors while developing solutions to real-world problems
• Visits to MIT’s Edgerton Center, Media Lab, and other MIT labs/centers to gain insights from staff, get ideas from projects at the forefront of STEM fields, and meet with project teams (students & staff).

9th grade use Individualized Learning Profile Platform in content classes

• All 9th grade students will use Individualized Learner Profile Platform
• Focus groups of students will meet on how learning has been guided by an individual learner profile

9th grade pilots Action Learning Labs

• The Edgerton Center will help TBA plan for creating and delivering impactful action learning lab projects by planning and running a 3-week action lab with all 9th grade students.
• 170 ninth grade students (all ninth graders) will engage in a 3-week pilot of one of the STEAM Studio Action Learning Labs.

Plan Crash Courses

• The Edgerton Center will help TBA staff plan crash courses for all 9th grade students. Integral to the STEAM Studio learning model are crash courses (20 to 30 hours in length), where students gain the knowledge and skills needed to tackle projects in the STEAM Studio action learning labs. Course examples include: electronics, invention and innovation, genetics, digital game design, data science, making wearables, and bio-inspired robotics.

Shift towards competency-based learning and competencies

• Shifting toward competency-based learning as well as shifting to competencies that promote wayfinding skills, habits of success, and creative knowhow requires its own stakeholder engagement plan so that students, families, and staff can explore shifts, concerns, advantages, and translation from the old system to the new.

Redesign school conditions

• Create conditions within the school to enable successful rollout of program to Grade 9 in year three. This includes but is not limited to completing process of school redesign; communications documents for students/families/staff, capacity building among staff; piloting resources from STEAM Studio; and developing a thorough strategic plan for implementation.
• Develop a design thinking process that enables all stakeholders to: 1) grow capacity in design thinking; 2) reenvision school physical spaces to enable student ownership/personalization and STEAM Studio; 3) explore different approaches to time and schedules.

Submit implementation grant

• The expanded design team will produce an Implementation Plan with input from all stakeholder groups to rollout the STEAM Studio in Year 3 for all ninth grade students and in grades 10-12 (one grade per year) in succeeding years. This plan will include: a timeline, competencies, an assessment framework, processes for calibration, revised schedules, professional collaboration and growth plan for educators, ongoing stakeholder engagement plan, communications plan, etc.