STEM and STEAM: What's the Deal?

Not a plant part and not vapor

During the State of the School address Mrs. Borders spoke about Cornerstone Prep's continued development of our STEM/STEAM curriculum inclusion. As I am sure you already know both of these acronyms stand for science, technology, engineering, and math, and STEAM adds the element of art for visualization and creativity.

Our desire is to continue to challenge our students to think critically, be inquisitive, be problem solvers, and apply these skills to real world problems.

What are we doing?

Cornerstone is continuing to enhance our secondary math curriculum with the addition for 2018-19 of a Honors pre-calculus course that will prepare our students to take the next step in 2019-20 with AP Calculus. The upper level mathematics provide a conceptual knowledge base for future post secondary fields of study in engineering and research.

"STEM is not just a course or a curriculum, but it is a way of thinking and grappling with the world around you, and this process is embedded in most of the secondary classes at Cornerstone. We strive to continue to equip our students and make them aware of STEM fields and occupations that they can pursue in the future."

Our secondary engineering department is growing. High school pre-engineering was added for 2017-18 and is being taught by a Georgia Tech engineering graduate. As Mrs. Borders stated "there is a lot of mess that goes with tinkering, developing and creating in our engineering classes," and the engineering class will be excited to move into the new dedicated space for the STEM/Engineering Lab for 2018-19.

It is interesting to observe in that class, the students are creating, building, testing, redesigning and testing again. There are successes and failures, and the students learn more when something fails because of the challenge they face to discover why.

In Cornerstone's upper level science classes biology, chemistry, and anatomy our teachers use course content and animal dissections to engage students in inquiry and understanding of genetics, disease, and body systems. The integration of the dissections following the introduction of the content knowledge provides a research based learning environment which supports STEM.

The addition of the AP Computer Science Principles class also falls under the science discipline of STEM. This class will introduce students to coding and the development of apps. Students in our robotics classes are also using coding to program robots, buggy drones and flying drones.

As We Grow Our STEM Program, Please Remember,

STEM is not just a course or a curriculum, but it is a way of thinking and grappling with the world around you, and this process is embedded in most of the secondary classes at Cornerstone. We strive to continue to equip our students and make them aware of STEM fields and occupations that they can pursue in the future.

Kyle Hamilton

Secondary Principal