While visiting Hawthorn Academy South Campus, a new Platinum STEM School for the 25-26 school year, we were treated to a showcase. When we visit a school as part of their STEM School Designation, we ask to see a regular school day. While we did see a regular day of school for these students and staff, what we saw was exceptional!
The uniting characteristic of what we saw was “student-centered.” You can tell that teachers and students work together to create standards-aligned learning experiences that truly meet students’ needs. For example, we saw a student-created graph charting the weather covering a wall in a kindergarten classroom. A teacher showed us a student solution to a hydroponics problem the STEM AC had recently shared, complete with 3D printed prototypes. We saw posters advertising an afterschool student farmers market, where produce grown in hydroponics stations and student-made items would be available for purchase by parents and students. Students and parents made homemade lava lamps as part of the celebration of Valentine’s Day. These were incredible, observable events, but this school has so much more going on every day, and we are excited to celebrate them.
Hawthorn Academy South has both a STEM and an Arts Specialist that work with grade level teachers to augment what is happening in the classroom. These specialists work with the general grade level teachers to integrate their subjects with what is already being learned in the classroom. First graders were reading about the Grand Canyon, and this was a perfect time for erosion experiments to better understand how the Grand Canyon was formed.
Another reading example is the “The Travelling Mural," where students made a 10-foot mural associated with a book they had been reading. Then they cut that mural into ten, one-foot slices, and send those mural pieces to nine schools across the country, keeping one at their school. Those same schools created their own murals tied to a book they have been reading, and sent their own mural strip to Hawthorn. These new mural pieces were placed side by side, creating a new mural now representing 10 different books. These kinds of projects are a great way to help students consider multiple perspectives and support cognitively demanding work.
Beyond STEM content, students at Hawthorn Academy South are developing their STEM culture, including learning new things, making mistakes and learning from them, and trying again. They are asked to explain their thinking, and justify their reasoning in an age-appropriate way. Students were working together to develop and solidify their understanding of STEM concepts. Students engaged in productive conversation with other students and the adults around them.
Visiting Hawthorn Academy South was a delight and showed us new ways STEM can look in an elementary school setting. We look forward to seeing whatever they come up with next. Congratulations on your new Platinum designation!
