STEM
STEM Education
Science • Technology • Engineering • Mathematics
STEM education is the integration of science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics into other disciplinary areas, like social studies and literacy. Through STEM education, students gain engaging, hands-on experiences that will help to prepare them for their future careers. As our technology-driven world evolves, we are giving our students, also known as 21st Century Learners, the skills to collaborate, problem-solve, and utilize tools effectively and creatively through STEM education.
At Charlotte Preparatory School, we feature a variety of components to our STEM program:
- Fine Arts Computer Lab: Our students, grades K – 8, participate in computer skills courses. Students learn how to keyboard, create word processing documents, build spreadsheets, create Glogsters and Wiki pages, conduct online research, and build multimedia projects.
- Classroom Integration: Through a variety of lessons, our Lower School and Middle School students use SMART Boards, digital cameras, digital video cameras, digital recorders and a wide range of software programs. Teachers participate in professional development programs to foster their knowledge of technology.
- Cross-Curriculum Digital/Audio Course: In their digital/audio course, seventh- and eighth-grade students unleash their creativity by producing multimedia projects that are coordinated to enhance the material they are covering in other content areas.
- Science Olympiad: Charlotte Prep offers Science Olympiad as a Middle School elective course, in which students are responsible for designing and building solutions to various problems. The student teams then go on to present their solutions at regional Science Olympiad competitions.
- Robotics: Charlotte Prep students at all levels enjoy designing and programming robotic projects in a range of school programs that feature LEGO® MINDSTORMS®: summer robotics camp, after-school enrichment classes (robotics “studios”), and a Middle School elective course. The Middle School class will compete in the FIRST® LEGO® League 2011 Food Factor Challenge.
- STEM Pathways Internship Program: Our eighth grade students have the opportunity to participate in an internship program with companies that utilize the principles of science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics. Through this internship program, each student gains work experience in a field that interests him/her. The internship culminates in the creation of a multimedia presentation to demonstrate what the student learned during the experience.
21st Century Learning
Integrating STEM education each classroom is a major factor in Charlotte Preparatory School’s 21st Century Learning program. We believe that it is critical to provide our students with experiences that foster the skills they will need well beyond their high school and college years:
- Life and Career Skills
- Learning and Innovation Skills
- Critical Thinking
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Creativity
- Information, Media and Technology Skills
