How we guide your student
Your middle school student is a natural scientist—continually exploring, experimenting, asking questions, and trying new things to see what happens. You want to help them channel their inner scientist, while also exposing them to the fantastic advances happening in science, technology, engineering, and math so they can find out what excites them (and see how they might even get involved). Ideally, you also want to avoid cleaning up big messes from experiments gone wrong. Our Middle School STEM Program is here to help.
Mentors in these courses guide students to awaken to the science that surrounds them every day. Hands-on projects give students real-life experience with the science behind food, weather, roller coasters, the human body, and Earth itself. Students also study the stories of some of history’s great scientists (including several of America’s founders). Every week, STEM students choose assignments from a monthly project buffet and work closely with mentors to refine their methods, results, and conclusions. Each course also revolves around one major project that requires the scientific knowledge and skills of the whole class to complete.
By participating in these courses, students hone and refine their innate skills as scientists and become aware of how the scientific method can help them better understand the world every day. They are more curious than ever about the mysteries of science and technology and excited by the opportunities for using both to make a positive difference in the world.
Note: For STEM students in 6th and 7th grade we offer a combined, rotating two-year curriculum in which students complete the A/B courses one year and the C/D courses the next.