We Challenge Minds
Independent schools offer challenging academics and engaging programs to help children develop a life-long love of learning.
Independent schools offer challenging academics and engaging programs to help children develop a life-long love of learning.
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Engineering Class Visits Draper Labs in Cambridge, MA
Upper School Engineering students visited Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, MA. They met with a rocket scientist who showed them a video demonstration of GENIE, a completely autonomous rocket and planetary landing guidance system. A few Draper employees demonstrated a quadrotor drone equipped with a camera guided GPS system for navigating areas not receptive to conventional […]
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“Battle of the Books” Challenges Students to Think Analytically and Creatively
In March, Middle School students accepted a new challenge from their teachers that combined writing, reading comprehension, and artistic ability. The annual “Battle of the Books” competition would still encourage students to read, write, and think more imaginatively, but a new “triathlon” format would give them the freedom to combine a variety of skill sets […]
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Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Seniors in Environmental Course Create Solar Lights
Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Environmental Science students created solar lights with Mrs. Meg Tredinnick to complete their unit on Renewable Energy. The lights will charge in the sunshine and glow when there is no sun. The students had to learn some basic electronics and how to solder to make them. Another exercise […]
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Green screening stories from the Old Testament at French American
Mme. Harifi recently completed a green screening project with her 6th grade history classes. The context for this activity was a unit studying Judaism, in which students were asked to present a three-minute retelling of a story from the Old Testament. Students recorded their scenes in front of a green screen. When they were finished, […]
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Milton Hershey School: The PA Farm Show
Students from the Milton Hershey School who showed animals at the Pennsylvania Farm Show sharpened their skills in the school’s AEE program. One student, junior Elijah Shirk from Bellefonte, PA, picked up seven ribbons in the week long event. To learn more about the AEE Program at Milton Hershey School, visit http://www.mhs-pa.org/programs/aee.
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First Graders Engineer Apple Containers, Sailboats, and More!
Pop into the first grade classroom and you are likely to encounter small clusters of children huddled around a collection of foam trays, felt, colored straws, Scotch tape, and all manner of handy supplies. There will be much negotiating, demonstrating, and a general flurry of activity. This is what STEM looks like in first grade. […]
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Paving the Road to Revolutionary Understanding
To meet second graders at the developmental crossroads of their imaginative enthusiasm and their deepening awareness of events from long ago, “making history” in the classroom (and sometimes outside of the classroom) is crucial for students to grasp historical material. Children at this age and stage thrive when captivated by a social studies curriculum that […]
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The Flipped Classroom: Turning learning on its head
For several classes at St. Mary’s Ryken the sequence of classroom learning has been turned on its head or “flipped.” What it means is that students watch a teacher-created video on the lesson at home, and then come into class the next day to work on the problems, questions, essays, etc., associated with the lesson. […]
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School’s Paleontology Museum Engages Students in the Scientific Process
The Webb Schools in Claremont, California, is the only high school in the country to have an accredited museum of paleontology right on campus. The Alf Museum is not just a place where students go to look at fossils. It’s a place where students are part of the scientific process, where they learn the joy […]
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Sewickley Academy Fourth Graders Are Full of Drive
Sewickley Academy’s Grade 4 students were challenged to design, build, and program Lego cars as a final project in computer class and did a phenomenal job! Their cars, controlled by a computer keyboard, had many unique features that demonstrate creative thinking and problem solving such as a distance sensor that makes the car go in […]
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GarageBand Class Creates Mini-Soundtracks
Students in the GarageBand App class at Tuxedo Park School were busy this past trimester creating exciting sound projects. For their final project, each student selected an excerpt from a literary work that they have read at Tuxedo Park School, recorded a voice narrating the passage (which serves as the voiceover), and then created a […]
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What If We Thought About Learning Differently?
All Saints’ Honors College students engaged in a dynamic class exercise where they embarked to observe, analyze, understand, and communicate about systems. As a Visiting Scholar, Grant Lichtman spent the day at All Saints’ and led Honors College students in this exercise based on his book, The Falconer. The book serves as as a yearlong […]