Cross-cutting concepts necessary for college and career are incorporated in an array of project-based learning activities. Students do not just build, they use the Engineering Design Process to ask deeper questions, collaborate with their peers, formulate a variety of solutions, and make adjustments and improvements to their projects. These solutions are often underscored by the use of STEAM processes and practices, including the Engineering Design Process and the Four C’s of STEAM.

Some excellent examples of this integration can be found in fourth grade. In the fourth grade reading block, students used an assembly line to build paper airplanes to make a connection to Henry Ford’s assembly line after reading about it in their reading curriculum. Also, while learning to read and write technical text, students wrote the steps to make a PB&J sandwich for their teacher’s nephew. In fourth grade math, students were given real-world multiplication word problems and try to solve problems for the “Coca-Cola delivery man” and Mrs. Jones’ husband’s “Military Ball”.

In second grade, the teachers collaborated with Mrs. Murray to plan a project that the students completed on the longleaf pine habitat. They learned about the animals and plants that live in the longleaf forest and listened to the book “Longleaf” by Roger Reid. Art Henderson from the Forestry Department talked with the students about the local habitat. At the end of the PBL, students went on a field trip to Lake Chinnabee to learn about the pH levels of the water, controlled burns with Smokey Bear, and marine life. They even had a chance to hold a snake! Students and parents then participated in a Teach Up activity where students taught their parents the things they learned during the project.