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.
-
English Classroom Features New Design
Annotation, sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and comma splices are conventional grammar topics for high school students, but the way they are taught in Laura Howard’s English II class is a departure from the norm. As one of three members of the English faculty selected to teach in experimental classrooms, Howard is teaching students in a […]
-
Inspired learning in and out of the classroom
Last year, the sophomores of Lake Forest Academy visited the Ragdale Foundation, a private institution on the grounds of architect Howard Van Doren Shaw’s summer home in Lake Forest, Illinois. Ragdale hosts over 150 writers, composers, and artists for short residencies throughout the year and offers them a quiet setting to work and interact with […]
-
Dunn Students Trek to Study Ecosystems
Students in Dunn’s AP Environmental Science class took a three-day trek through Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties to investigate ecosystems. Dunn School, in Los Olivos, California, serves boarding and day students in grades 6-12. Students started by uncovering coastal ecology and ecosystems at the Guadalupe Dunes and Oso Flaco Lake. They tested […]
-
The Architecture of Project Based Learning
A real twelve by sixteen foot, multi-level clubhouse built on campus! That was the end goal of the architecture unit for our fifth and sixth grade classes. To accomplish this goal required applying learning about geometry, physics, measurement, scale, decimals, teamwork, budgeting, project management, and communication. Students made presentations to the school’s students, teachers, and […]
-
McCallie School Students Explore the Habits and Genetics of Jellyfish
A visitor to the fifth floor science wing in McCallie’s Maclellan Academic Building would likely do a double- take upon passing the classroom of Dr. Karah Nazor. Visible through the large windows are tanks filled with nearly 300 jellyfish. Dr. Nazor and 10 students have undertaken a marine biology project that experts say few if […]
-
Applied Physics and Design–Toboggan Making
Teachers George Tahan and Tyson Trautz are team teaching a course in Conceptual Physics that features a one-day-a-week session in Applied Physics and Design during which the students make toboggans. Boys design their toboggans using CAD (Computer Aided Design) software, and go over to the wood shop to build them.
-
Juniors Develop Long-Term Project Encompassing Coding, Strategy, and Collaboration
Each year, students in Deb Goudy’s Advanced Honors Computer Science class are challenged to tackle a long-term project that encompasses coding, strategy, and collaboration. “Because we’re all interested in science, we wanted to create something to help teach other students,” Pedro Rivera ’16 explained. “Our project aims to improve the experience for those taking Biology […]
-
Imagining a Perfect World
As a follow up to one of their summer reading books, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, Sixth grade students at Montgomery School in Chester Springs, PA, imagine creating their own utopian community, as they complete ten writing assignments. The students write paragraphs explaining community’s name; the symbolism of the motto and seal they’ve created; and […]
-
6th Graders Build SeaPerch Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles
Amid a flurry of excitement and activity, the sixth graders built SeaPerch underwater remotely operated vehicles in science class this fall. They then put their work to the test by attempting to successfully run their vehicles through hoops, into crates, and all around a large pool. “When I told the students they would be building […]
-
Sixth Graders Learn Biology, Archaeology, and History Through Mummification
Bent over chickens fresh from the market, sixth graders splashed rice wine vinegar and rubbed cinnamon on the pullets like Top Chefs vying for a stake in the next round. The setting was no TV kitchen, though, and Mrs. Porter’s students weren’t prepping these birds to serve for dinner. Science was happening, and the chicken […]
-
MIT Edgerton Center/Meadowbrook eurekaLab Collaboration
The MIT Edgerton Center has joined with Meadowbrook in its initiative to integrate design thinking and making into the curriculum, professional development, and school culture. In return, Meadowbrook will be a testing site for the Edgerton Center for developing K-8 curriculum and serve as a model program for future independent school collaborations.
-
Hands-on History: Standing on the Timeline of Human History
The timelines that historians use to visualize change over time can be baffling to sixth graders. How can a person who has been alive for eleven years conceptualize millions of years of life on earth? Or understand how comparatively brief man’s time on earth has been? “I always taught the concepts of scale and sense […]