ST1.2

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

Inquiry-based learning that focuses on real-world and authentic problems is fundamental in developing a school wide STEM instructional framework. Students across all grade levels work both independently and collaboratively to complete STEM projects and challenges. At the core of each STEM task learners are required to think critically and creatively to solve complex problems.

Our teachers design lessons that offer low-floor, high-ceiling learning opportunities and encourage creative expression of ideas. Students learn from and with others, and are encouraged to think in both collaborative and divergent ways. Through the process of exploration and discovery, they see that STEM is everywhere, and that they have something to contribute to the field. Students become more invested in the process as they begin to realize that their classroom lessons have real-world applications, and that even the most complex problems can be solved.

Tuscaloosa CAN!

University Place Elementary School has participated in the Tuscaloosa City Schools' project and service learning Tuscaloosa CAN! competition for the past five years as part of an effort to expand awareness of hunger and food insecurity within our community. This problem impacts many of our students on a personal level every day. Tuscaloosa CAN! is an engineering and math project that combines this societal problem with rigorous and relevant academic content. Each year a team of fourth graders at UPES are challenged with creating a 3D sculpture made from canned food items. Students integrate the skills of geometry and estimation, art and design, physics and engineering, as well as spatial reasoning as they complete their structure. The culmination of this event is a citywide contest and art exhibit, open to the general public. Over the past four years, Tuscaloosa City students and schools have raised nearly 45,000 pounds of food to benefit the West Alabama Food Bank. The event fits with the vision of 21st Century curriculum goals by providing students opportunities for service-based, collaborative, hands-on learning that targets real world problems. By the way, UPES has taken home engineering and design trophies every single year, and this year designed the first "moving" Canstruction sculpture!

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Choose Kind

In order for learning to be deep and meaningful it needs to be relevant for students, and one universal problem that students face on a daily basis is making the choice to be kind. Kindness extends beyond using nice words and having good manners. It is an integral part of developing character and positive self-esteem in young learners. To kick off this year of kindness our students started with the community service outreach project to stock our community pantry at Wings of Grace. After seeing how fulfilled and happy our students felt for being kind and helping those in need the teachers at UPES decided that it was imperative to connect the theme of kindness to STEM learning. Our students have taken to this challenge with gusto and determination. Fifth grade started our year of kindness by reading the book Wonder and completing technology driven presentations about the book, as well as, going on a field trip to see the movie Wonder. Fourth grade has really been excelling at working in collaborative groups for STEM projects like designing a bicycle track and racing their peers, creating marble drops, and measurement and collecting data when flying paper airplanes. Third graders challenged their spatial reasoning by creating 3D kindness posters to display in the school. Second grade created Lego Stop Motion movies with a kindness theme. Lastly, first grade and kindergarten participated in the "Air Mail" challenge. They were tasked with reading and following blueprints to make a paper airplane that could fly a complimentary letter to a friend in their classroom. By connecting kindness to hands-on, engaging learning our students at UPES have had the opportunity to internalize and deepen their understanding of kindness and the role it plays in their lives.

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UNICEF: Feed the World Project

One goal at UPES is to create global citizens. A recent project with this emphasis was our UNICEF: Feed the World Project. Ostensibly a project addressing malnutrition around the world we approached this issue through the lens of mathematics. Third graders were assigned digital pedometers (fitbits) and tasked with tracking their daily and weekly steps, thus targeting specific math skills such as number fluency with multi-digit numbers. We had recognized that this was a problem area for many of our third graders. UNICEF awarded therapeutic food bags for malnourished children based on the number of steps submitted by the class. By linking this global problem to their daily activities we were able to get students to pay attention to their role as world citizens while simultaneously working on a deficit area of their mathematical skill set.

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