Sunnyside teachers collaborate on developing short and long term standards-based curriculum maps. Attention was given to identifying big ideas (units), vocabulary (core disciplinary ideas), instructional activities (skills and practices), and assessments that supported our main goal of integrating problem-based learning. The aim of these curriculum maps was to organize, align, and calibrate our curriculum with Indiana standards. We also wanted to check for redundancies and/or misalignments and furthermore, establish coherence within grade level disciplines and across grades. Emphasis was placed on integrating engineering design principles and practices in both the Humanities and Math and Science disciplines. Engineering design served as a vehicle for blending key concepts and ideas and promoting students’ higher order thinking.

STEM and Humanities staff meet throughout the week to plan and integrate curriculum. As an example of curriculum integration, in the Challenge program the Humanities teacher assists with Science Fair research projects by working with students on locating research sources, assisting students with editing and revising their reports, and teaching appropriate ways to cite sources used.

Questioning is at the base of STEM, and effective integration of technology affords students opportunities to further question. Being in a 1:1 ecosystem, our STEM classrooms are using this opportunity for research, communication, and collaboration. Real-time and curated video (TED, Khan Academy, and YouTube) technology has been able to deliver expertise, knowledge, and insight right to the palms of the students’ hands.

Often the early-adopters of technology, you’ll find our STEM teachers looking for opportunities to incorporate computer science in their activities. Tasks involving coding, basic programming of robotic spheres as part of enriching design tasks, or programming to create animated models have engaged even the most reluctant participants in our STEM classrooms.

Fall 2020 brought Project Lead the Way Launch and Gateway curriculums to Sunnyside. Three teachers completed a summer workshop in July of 2020. PLTW at Sunnyside bridges an already existing PLTW program in our secondary buildings to our newly implemented PLTW modules in our eight elementary schools. Prior to the PLTW initiative, our computer applications began the transition from a curriculum of productivity suites to that modeled after the CODE.org and Apple's Swift programming lessons.

Our relationship with Purdue University allows a unique opportunity for students and teachers to have authentic professional collaborations with practicing scientists and science educators. These experts bring real world problems into our classrooms and challenge our staff and students alike to tackle problems using the same problem solving techniques used in universities. Partnering with local employers we have taken students to local advanced manufacturing sites such as Subaru of Indiana and Alcoa. Our partnership with Junior Achievement allows are students to explore business and civic opportunities and responsibilities. Working on committees with employers we recognize the need to increase student awareness of STEM occupations prior to entering high school. Community members such as elected officials, business owners, and professionals in technical occupations have all been visitors and guest speakers in our classrooms. Career exploration and the Indiana Employability Standard Skills are integrated into the Humanities maps to foster additional STEM and Humanities integration.

Sunnyside is a data driven school. We continually self evaluate based on attendance, disciplinary, formative, and summative data. We have integrated the 8 Steps model to formatively assess our students through the use of common assessments, created by teachers, and shared by all grade level departments. Data meetings are held every three weeks, so we can disaggregate common assessments. This allows us to strengthen and refine our curriculum to align with instructional goals and state standards. It also allows us to determine problem-solving strategies to promote individual student success. We analyze and respond to this information in data meetings. This system supports a cycle of learning and teaching in which students are reassessed to determine if they have attained proficiency in specific learning targets. Data obtained from analysis of common assessments is recorded in sharable links for reference. The importance of this system is its emphasis on teaching to mastery. We have moved from a culture where final grades measure student learning to one in which every child, every class, every teacher, indeed our entire school, is involved in continuous improvement. In short, data is not merely recorded. It is collected, analyzed, and responded to in a way that fosters student growth.