Standard 1.2

ST1.2 - Students work independently and collaboratively in an inquiry based learning environment that encourages finding creative solutions to authentic and complex problems.

Our school’s mission is to create a welcoming and supportive environment for all students that fosters learning, hands-on exploration, critical thinking, communication and problem solving. Inside and outside of the classrooms, teachers and students (whether small group, whole group, or one-on-one) are offered countless opportunities each day to encourage students to have an active role in their learning and to explore common real-world problems. All classrooms contain a variety of easily-accessible materials, resources, technology and tools, which students (and teachers) utilize to create, explore, share or test their ideas. Our school’s outdoor spaces also provide easily accessible areas for exploring topics, testing ideas/prototypes, and observing.

We follow a rich and rigorous curriculum that is designed to prepare our students for the future and to push them to their full potential. Students learn and explore content-specific subject material/skills throughout the day, but they are also introduced to scenarios and concepts that force them to analyze, interpret and tackle relevant issues, topics, data, problems, ideas (on local, state, national, and international scales) and to make meaningful connections between what they are learning and the real world. While direct instruction remains a must for certain material and skills, our curriculum provides the flexibility that teachers require to execute their lessons through different teaching methods. Our teachers cherish and embrace being able to differentiate their lessons and assessments for students so that students have a variety of ways to gain and show their knowledge, to set goals that meet the individual needs of students (including removing barriers to their learning), and to create learning environments that allow for authentic inquiry-based-learning.

Whether working independently or in groups, students are encouraged to brainstorm as they work through assignments/projects/open-ended questions, to share their ideas, to listen to the ideas of others, to ask questions, and to reflect on their experiences/roles. Significant time is spent in each classroom to teach students the communication and social skills necessary for group collaboration. For example, in addition to our Engineering and Design curriculum, under our ELA curriculum, students (of all grades) must specifically practice presenting material orally and to participate in collaborative discussions with their peers. Students not only learn how to communicate, but they also learn the reasons why these skills are critical for, i.e., workplace success. Indeed, our two school counselors, as well as our teachers, also support and reinforce these goals. Each counselor in our school has implemented a specific social-emotional curriculum program for all our students. Under these programs, our counselors visit each classroom (either weekly, biweekly or months, depending on the grade) and focus on re-teaching specific skills for learning, empathy, emotion management and problem solving in and outside of the classroom.

Some other samples of open-ended/real-world project based learning in our curriculum (throughout various grades), as well as instruction geared to teach students how to problem solve:

• “Wind Lesson (Turbines)
• STEAM Lesson Plan “Save the Animals” along with “Save the Animals Instructions” and with “Sample Project Questions”
• “1st Grade Lesson - Let’s Go To the Moon!”
• “Pop’s Bridge ELA/STEM” Activity”
• “CRS Water in Pakistan Lesson Plan”
• “5th Grade Math Geometry”
• “Stations: Topic: Matter”
• Portion of 2nd Grade Curriculum (for ELA and Science - 2 pdfs)
• Portion of 6th Grade Curriculum
• Course Description for 5th Grade ELA Curriculum
• Portion of 4th Grade Curriculum
• Portion of 7th Grade Curriculum
• Portion of 8th Grade Curriculum” - 2 pdfs: Science, and Technology (technology specifically requiring students to be an “an effective creative communicator.”)
• Sample of email/letter from counselors to 7th grade and K parents regarding instruction on communication/problem-solving (SEL program)