South San Francisco District Launches First Summer STEM Institute
The South San Francisco
Unified School District (SSFUSD) is launching its first-ever
Summer STEM Institute in an effort to
prepare
its students for professions in the 21st century.
"The students and families
that depend on our local public schools know that STEM learning is no
longer an
elective," said District Board of Trustees President Patrick Lucy.
"STEM
learning is a critical and essential learning tool for every student to
succeed
in their education and any career path they choose."
The school district just
south of San Francisco is focusing this first Summer Institute on
students in
grades 2-8 with hands-on activities and
project-based
learning. All of the lessons, activities, experiments and challenges are
aligned
with Next Generation Science and Common Core State Standards.
"This is an exciting learning
opportunity for our students and professional development opportunity
for our
teachers," said SSFUSD Superintendent Shawnterra Moore. "Providing
world-class
enrichment experiences like this is a hallmark of the district's
commitment to
cultivating the next generation of leaders, thinkers and innovators."
The curriculum was developed
in collaboration with OpTerra Energy Services, which has
begun a new
sustainability partnership with the district.
Students in grades 2-5 will participate for about four hours a day, four
days a
week, for four weeks. Activities will include building energy
transformation
machines, engineering solar ovens, designing and testing wind turbine
blades
and conducting classroom energy audits.
Older students will spend a
few more hours each week during their four-week program. They will
build Rube
Goldberg machines, design circuit mazes and design, build and test
energy-efficient homes.
The South San Francisco
district has about 9,300 students and 40 teachers in 15 schools.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.