Mount Pleasant Magazine 6.4

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W orking with 3D
printers and digital cutters
in a fabrication lab might
sound a little intimidating,
but, for the students at
Laing Middle School, it’s
a part of their day-to-day
curriculum. Laing recently was ranked among the top 10
STEM Education schools in
America – and the top three
STEM Education middle schools in the country as well.
So what does STEM mean? It stands for science, tech-
nology, engineering and mathematics, and it’s taken on a
life of its own at Laing Middle School. After six months of
brainstorming, Laing’s faculty reinvented the program and
introduced a “whole school” approach.
“How we have it framed is that it is embedded in every-
thing we do and is not something separate,” said Principal
Jay Whitehair.
Three main pillars form the foundation of STEM Educa-
tion at Laing. Engineering is used to teach the students
the process of problem solving. It helps middle schoolers
think through issues and come up with the most logical and
efficient way to resolve them. Technology, meanwhile, is
more than just iPads and smartboards. It’s all about the nuts
and bolts and innovative procedures that keep the wheels
turning in the business world. The final pillar is technologi-
cal literacy. This means that students are expected to do
more then just read, write and speak. They need to be able
to comprehend the world around them, and they need to
know how products are made and how businesses are run.
In short, they need to know how things get done.
These three pillars are the foundation of a fully im-
mersed curriculum. The STEM Education principles even
are evident in classes such as Language Arts, where the
students incorporate the information they accumulate
through STEM into the framework of their studies.
Over the course of this school year, for example, stu-
dents were instructed to research the most viable form of
renewable energy for the future and to write an argumen-
tative essay about it.
“The idea of providing hands-on opportunities means
Laing MiddLe SchooL exceLS nationwide
ANewGeneration
of STEMLearners
By Samantha Sullivan
53 | |
Photos courtesy of Laing Middle School.