We Encourage Exploration
Independent schools encourage students to learn about the world and about themselves.
Independent schools encourage students to learn about the world and about themselves.
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Robots have taken over the library!
On a bright spring morning, a group of exuberant 1st graders gathered in our school library to cheer on their 5th grade buddies in their first ever “robot battle”—a contest that had student-created bots attempting to push one another out of a circular ring. This culminating event followed intensive work over several weeks during which […]
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Dance Movement and Music Help Students Develop Personal, Environmental Connections
Baltimore Lab School students recently collaborated with dance therapist and architect Martha Raquel Herrera Muñoz and the non-profit PlanetArt Fund in a series of three-day workshops to create ocean awareness. Through dance movement and music, Muñoz, along with BLS faculty members Zac Lawhon and Jackie Lesh, helped students in grades 6-12 explore the concept of […]
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Students Use Integrative Thinking to Explore, Understand Ancient Civilizations
EVERlab, in its pilot year at Jewish Community High School of the Bay, focuses on students’ integration of concepts, ideas, and themes from both their Jewish and general studies courses. The Hebrew root word “EVER” means crossing over and the ability to be in transition, so the program uses design thinking, ideation, iteration, and collaboration […]
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Interactive STEAM Fair Brings School Community Even Closer
This year, The Langley School hosted its first-ever STEAM Fair to celebrate its interdisciplinary, inquiry-based approach to learning and discovery through science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. In keeping with the school’s Arc of Development model, which underscores the ways in which the curriculum builds upon itself, the hands-on activity stations spanned all ages. More […]
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Middle Schoolers Learn Endurance, Find Traction at LeMons
This year, a Blue Oak School elective course required a group of seventh and eighth graders to rebuild a 1984 BMW 318i from the ground up to compete in a nearby LeMons 24-hour endurance race. Physics, thermodynamics, friction, and how to avoid smashing your thumb with a sledgehammer were part of the learning process. Since […]
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Virtual Field Trips with Google Expeditions
Turning Point School was thrilled to be one of the pioneer schools to experience Google Expeditions in our Levels 3, 4, and 6 classrooms earlier this week. Google Expeditions is a virtual reality platform built for the classroom. It allows teachers to take their classes on virtual field trips, immersing students in experiences that bring […]
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8th-Grade Science at Pacific Ridge School Reaches New Heights
Just before dawn on the morning of March 19th, a group of Pacific Ridge School (Carlsbad, CA) 8th-grade students, faculty members and parent volunteers headed for Elmore Desert Ranch to launch a Conceptual Physics class project into the stratosphere. The project – a high-altitude weather balloon carrying scientific experiments – went on a 40-mile journey, […]
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Third-Grade Dioramas Cut Across Multiple Disciplines
Some parents may remember creating dioramas out of old shoeboxes when they were in elementary school. Today, Ranney Lower Schoolers (Tinton Falls, NJ) are creating full-scale 3-D scenes in our Innovation Lab—and they are doing so in a way that threads the subject matter they are learning across multiple disciplines. In third-grade , students have […]
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Woodland School Fourth-Grade Students Create “The Living Museum”
In this video, fourth grade teachers Susan Whited and Lauren Baumgartner discuss the transformative project known as The Living Museum. To start, students choose a character in California’s history who made an impact. The students go on to conduct independent research, write an essay, and write a speech. The project culminates in The Living Museum […]
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Beyond The Classroom at St. James Academy
Discovery, exploration, and inquiry are encouraged at St. James Academy. Administrators and teachers foster each child’s love of learning and encourage their creativity all while trying to protect their innocence and curiosity. One of the milestones of the St. James Academy’s Eighth Grade experience is the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program’s Community Project. This student-led […]
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Akiva students build interactive “monsters” as part of new STEM initiative
Akiva School students in grades four-six are creating monsters. Not the ugly harmful kind. These are friendly, interactive monsters, and by making them the students are learning to integrate the subjects of science, technology, mathematics and engineering. The project is part of a new STEM initiative at Akiva as the school implements a five-year plan […]
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Hands-On, Project-Based Program Offers Opportunities, Inspiration
Project Exploration is both cutting edge and a 50-year tradition at the all-girls Purnell School. Each year, faculty members create new three-week, mini-semester classes for students that reflect the type of learning they’re encountering both inside and outside the classroom — from academic courses designed to be hands-on, meaningful, and individualized, to LifeSports, engaging girls […]