STEM Skills & Competencies
STEM K12 14: Students develop STEM skills and crosscutting competencies that support workforce readiness.
Impact Narrative:
Our vision at FLS is to continually expose our students to real-world problem-based experiences that encourage critical thinking to impact the world positively.
We apply crosscutting concepts that integrate our development of our school-wide PBL (Problem Based Learning) showcases. Our teachers, STEM coordinator, and Instructional coaches plan collaboratively to incorporate the alignment of STEM disciplines and crosscutting concepts in our curriculum.
The STEM skills and concepts are addressed in our PBLs and STEM challenges to facilitate higher-order thinking skills and prepare them for real-world problem-solving experiences. Our focus on designing professional learning to incorporate crosscutting concepts such as cause and effect through scientific non-fiction text and throughout the STEM discipline has been one of our strengths at FLS.
Areas of Strength:
Integration of all core subject areas and crosscutting concepts have provided opportunities for “authentic” problem-based learning experiences. At Frank Lebby Stanton, we are preparing to be more intentional about using the data and evaluation from the District STEM coordinator to enhance our program.
Areas of Opportunity:
Our partnership with the Georgia Tech Research Institute will increase exposure to STEM-based careers. We have already developed a career interest survey to administer during the first month of school next year to determine the STEM-related fields that interest our scholars.
Initiatives/Actions:
Teachers and staff provide learning experiences during and beyond the school day where students can utilize crosscutting concepts and 21st Century skills and continually improve and recognize opportunities for growth (i.e., inquiry-based activities, Makerspace, Performance-based assessment, STEM Challenge, Math Bowl, Science Fair, Technology Fair).
Students must include crosscutting concepts and 21st Century skills on their PBL Goal Sheet to ensure they put the skills into practice and self-reflect on their growth after completing the PBL Unit.