MANSFIELD — Discovery School has added a new program and position for the 2024-25 school year.
The school is adding a STEM program and teacher after receiving a grant from the State of Ohio for just over $65,000.
“As an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, hands-on learning with a focus on inquiry in real-world contexts is a natural next step for Discovery,” said Simon Clark, Head of School.
“This grant offers an opportunity to further our students an understanding of the design process, whilst bringing increased focus on science, math, and engineering.”
This new program will be led by Savannah Gould, who is excited to build this new offering in collaboration with administration and other teachers.
“I don’t want this to be a craft hour, but for students to understand what they are building and why. I want them to ask questions and learn how to do quality research,” Gould said regarding the student-led inquiry-based course. “I love that I will get to nerd out with them every day.”
Gould is spending time this summer organizing the new STEM lab and curriculum, working with just over $8,500 in LEGO education Spike and Early Childhood STEM kits and their accompanying online resources.
In addition to the LEGO education kits, the new lab will include $13,000 for a new classroom cart of iPads, five coding DASH robots, three Mochi screenless coding robots with stories to guide students through beginning to code, and two new desktop computers to enhance use of the school’s two existing Flashforge Dreamer 3-D printers.
The class will work with the design cycle, and lean on the International Baccalaureate’s principles of immersing students in real-world contexts as an approach to learning and teaching, giving them voice, choice, and ownership over their learning.
Students will work with Gould and their classroom teachers to create individual or small group plans based on their interests, and spend two weeks to a few months researching, writing, conducting activities, gathering data, and reporting results to their classroom and the school at large.
The goal is for STEM to work in tandem with the school’s current Genius Hour, as well as their curriculum guide, the Program of Inquiry.
Genius Hour is an initiative where each student takes time each week to plan projects which focus on their own wonderings about the world, a clear partner for STEM offerings.
The program will focus not only on Ohio science, math, and STEM network standards, but include transdisciplinary work and the opportunity to develop skills.
Starting this school year, STEM will be offered to all Kindergarten through 6th graders as they work in the new lab at least once a week as a part of their three daily specials classes.
Enrollment is currently open in all grades preschool through 6th grade for the upcoming 2024-25 school year.
To find out more, visit their website at www.discovery-school.net.