Self-Assessment: Model 

School Narrative & Linked Evidence

Over the past three years, Wellcome Middle School has demonstrated consistent, Model-level implementation of student-led design and inquiry across science, math, STEM Encore, and related interdisciplinary courses. At least 3–4 times per year, in the vast majority of STEM-related classes, students now take the lead in solving authentic problems, designing investigations, completing engineering design cycles, and engaging in computational thinking. This represents significant growth from prior years, during which design experiences were less frequent, less interdisciplinary, and not yet schoolwide.

Growth Over Three Years

• Year 1 (2022–2023): Wellcome Middle School consistently met the Model indicator for Students Designing by ensuring that, in the vast majority of STEM-related courses, students engaged in multiple design and inquiry cycles each year. Design-based learning was most visible in science and STEM Encore through structured mini-challenges, engineering design tasks, and quarterly STEM Fridays that emphasized problem identification, testing solutions, and iteration. While implementation varied by content area, students regularly took the lead in investigations and engineering challenges, establishing a strong foundation for a schoolwide culture of design.

• Year 2 (2023–2024): Building on this Model-level foundation, WMS strengthened coherence and depth of student design experiences across disciplines. Cross-curricular design challenges expanded as the STEM/AVID team intentionally planned interdisciplinary mini-challenges that required students to apply the engineering design process, data analysis, and modeling across science, STEM, and mathematics. Science teachers implemented Center for Inquiry Based Learning (CIBL) kits to standardize inquiry expectations, while math teachers embedded authentic design-based problem solving connected to real data sets. Students increasingly demonstrated ownership of the design cycle, including reflection and revision.

• Year 3 (2024–2025): WMS sustained Model-level performance while refining consistency, alignment, and student agency. Design cycles now occur multiple times per quarter across science, STEM, and math, with vertically aligned expectations that scaffold design thinking from sixth through eighth grade. Interdisciplinary challenges are intentionally sequenced, and student-led investigations are an explicit expectation across the STEM/AVID team. Evidence housed on the school’s Google Site documents a sustained, schoolwide culture in which inquiry, engineering design, and iterative problem solving are embedded as core instructional practices rather than isolated events.
  
  

Science & STEM Encore Examples 

Students regularly lead investigations and engineering design cycles in all science courses:

6th Grade Science:

• • Space Exploration Mini-Challenge – Engineering blueprint design for a rover
    
    

  • Poster Pollution Challenge – Student-driven research and solution proposals
    
    

  • Paper Cup Tower Challenge – Full engineering design cycle
    
    

  • Chinese Papers (Science + Social Studies + Math data analysis)
    
    

  • Asian Pacific Music Challenge – Wave science + instrument engineering
    
    

  • CIBL Kits: Energy & Waves – Student-designed investigations
    
    

7th Grade Science:

• • Rube Goldberg Challenge – Integration of forces, motion, simple machines
    
    

  • Toy Car Lab – Students created and executed their own experimental designs
    
    

  • Index Card Tower Challenge
    
    

  • Trench Foot Investigation – Scientific + mathematical data collection
    
    

  • CIBL Kits: Genetics, Cells & Systems
    
    

8th Grade Science:

• • Spaghetti Tower Challenge
    
    

  • Gem & Mineral Inquiry Exploration
    
    

  • Balloon Tower Design Challenge
    
    

  • Science Expression Through the Arts – Student-selected mediums
    
    

  • Social Issues Research Script (Science + ELA + Math)
    
    

  • Microorganisms PSA Design Challenge (Science + Social Studies)
    
    

STEM Science & Careers in STEM (Expeditions)

Pitsco Expeditions add structured, student-led, design-focused modules, including:

• Future Footprints
  
  

• Engineering Rockets
  
  

• Beyond Earth
  
  

• Innovating Solutions
  
  

• Electric Tech
  
  

• Rolling Robots
  
  

Math Examples

Math teachers now embed student-led design cycles into:

• Data collection investigations (speed labs, temperature models, proportional reasoning challenges)
  
  

• Engineering tasks requiring calculations, measurement, graphing, and analysis
  
  

• Cross-content projects where math students model real-world data from the mini-challenges (e.g., analyzing ramp height vs. speed from the Toy Car Lab, calculating apogee in Engineering Rockets, graphing population/microorganism data in the PSA challenge)
  
  

Math integration has grown substantially: from occasional enrichment tasks in Year 1 to regular, intentional integration supporting STEM investigations schoolwide by Year 3.

6th Grade Math

• Chinese Paper Mini-Challenge:
  Students measure mass, thickness, drying time, and durability of handmade paper samples; analyze variability; create graphs; and determine optimal material combinations based on data.
  
  

• Asian Pacific Music Challenge:
  Students calculate wave frequencies, compare pitch changes based on instrument length, and graph sound wave patterns generated by their engineered instruments.
  
  

• Pollution & Conservation Posters:
  Students collect simple numerical data (water usage, energy consumption, recycling rates) and create charts or proportional models to support conservation solution proposals.
  
  

• Space Rover Design:
  Students calculate dimensions, scale, and weight distribution while designing rover blueprints; use ratio reasoning for proportional scaling.
  
  

• Paper Cup Tower Challenge:
  Students measure tower height, calculate stability ratios (height-to-base-width), and model how design changes affect structure strength.
  
  

7th Grade Math 

• Toy Car Lab:
  Students calculate speed using distance/time, compare average speeds at different ramp heights, graph relationships, and design a new investigation using a different variable (mass, surface type, friction).
  
  

• Rube Goldberg Challenge:
  Students apply proportional reasoning to determine the spacing, height, and timing of machine components; calculate distances and rate changes between steps.
  
  

• Index Card Tower Challenge:
  Students calculate structural efficiency (height per card), graph results across teams, and revise design plans based on mathematical patterns.
  
  

• Trench Foot Investigation:
  Students measure temperature change in water, calculate rates of heat loss, and analyze time-series data; connect proportional change to osmosis effects in the science portion.
  
  

• CIBL Genetics & Cells Kits:
  Students calculate probabilities in Punnett squares, analyze trait distribution, and create data charts to support conclusions.
  
  

8th Grade Math 

• Balloon Tower Challenge:
  Students calculate surface area, volume, and tension ratios; evaluate design stability using geometric reasoning; and graph height vs. structural base width.
  
  

• Spaghetti Towers:
  Students test structural load-bearing capacity, calculate force distribution, and compare class datasets to determine engineering best practices.
  
  

• Gem & Minerals Inquiry:
  Students classify mineral samples using numerical properties (hardness scale, density), measure volume/mass, and calculate density to justify identifications.
  
  

• Science Expression Through the Arts Project:
  Students model pandemic data (infection curves, rates of change), analyze trends, and use graphs as part of their expressive presentation.
  
  

• Microorganisms PSA (8th Science + Math):
  Students model exponential growth, graph infection rates, compare replication cycles, and evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation strategies using math-based evidence.
  
  

• Social Issues Research Script:
  Students analyze climate data trends (temperature, CO₂ levels, sea level rise) and integrate mathematical models into cross-curricular research.
  
  

• CIBL Kits:
  Students model wave frequency, analyze energy transfer, and calculate changes in system variables throughout investigations.

STEM Activities

The table shows the different STEM experiences that our students participated in based on the classes that they were in. Science and Social Studies did many cross-curricular activities. The math Strategies That Engage Minds activities dealt with designing and having to perform calculations.

6th Grade Science and Social Studies collaborated every 9 weeks to complete mini-challenges. Below are the slide decks.

Gingerbread House