Ï㽶ӰÊÓ

A strength at New Ellenton Middle School is our consistent inclusion of authentic learning experiences in all courses.  Real world problems provide relevance for learning and spark increased student engagement.  New Ellenton Middle School students are offered multiple opportunities to apply their learning to problem-based, real world scenarios.  At NEMS, educators collaborate to provide lessons that are real world applicable and extend across all subject areas.  The curriculum provides learning experiences for all students that develop crosscutting competencies, such as collaboration, which is necessary for post-secondary institutions and the workforce.  It also engages all students in STEM processes and practices.  We conduct school-wide and grade level (interdisciplinary) STEM projects that allow teachers to facilitate student learners through the exploration of different disciplines. Our interdisciplinary problem-based curriculum begins each year with a STEAM Boot Camp. The boot camp introduces the principles of STEAM education and all of its components, including the engineering process, to our students. The boot camp culminates with a project where students work collaboratively to develop creative solutions to a task. During the Crime Scene Investigation project, which followed our 2015-2016 STEAM Boot Camp, students explored and discovered different aspects of the case using science, technology, engineering, and math to analyze a crime scene, while citing evidence and thinking critically to build an argument. 

 CSI: Accident or Foul Play?

SCAMLE Presentation

Teachers at New Ellenton Middle STEAM School strive to ensure that problem-based learning experiences place high priority not just on the core concepts being taught but also on the Engineering Design Process (EDP) and technology.  EDP is an intricate component of our school curriculum.  The NEMS teacher created an EDP model, included in student handbooks and displayed through school-wide posters, that is introduced at the beginning of each year.  Teachers and students consistently refer to and utilize this process throughout the school year.  Students are trained to recognize the significance of the engineering design process in solving everyday problems.  Problem-based instruction at NEMS also relies heavily on the integration of technology.  This includes the use of more traditional technology like computers and 3D printers, as well as more simplistic forms of technology such as magnifying lenses, protractors, measurement tools, and compasses.  Teachers emphasize to students and each other that technology can be any human-made device that solves a problem.  Our problem-based learning experiences frequently require students to use common, everyday objects as technology.  An example of this is demonstrated in the Girls in Engineering class, where students use creative and critical thinking skills to design and construct mechanical hands using common, recyclable materials.   This project, and others like it, requires students to follow the EDP using their conceptual understanding of disciplinary core ideas to solve a real world problem.  In this specific example, students used their knowledge of the skeletomuscular system to develop limb replacement prosthesis.  In another interdisciplinary project, students read A Long Walk to Water in English classes and designed clean water solutions with minimal household supplies to create a clean water vehicle during science classes.  English Language Arts (ELA) and social studies classes team together on a project focusing on the Reconstruction Era.   Students develop a reconstruction plan for various countries after studying the Reconstruction Era in the United States.  In ELA, students identified connections between reconstruction and the messages of historical figures, such as Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.