Integrated STEM: Building Collaboration and
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A Different School Day"Today’s school day looks very much like an assembly line. Discreet tasks are done one 45 minute period at a time. Students go from one block to the next block to the next, often with little or no connection between blocks, and sit at a desk, listening, occasionally speaking and taking notes. i2 Learning breaks down these blocks by creating week-long courses where students spend five full days building, problem-solving and collaborating with their classmates on solving a series of interdisciplinary challenges. They use their heads, their hands, and their colleagues to make connections and succeed in an environment more like the one ahead of them" (i2 Learning, 2015).
Embrace Failure"Where would we be if we were too scared to fail? Innovation, creativity, and advancement are predicated on our ability to take risk, fail and try again. Meanwhile, in many of our schools, the cost of failure has never been higher. A failed test or assignment, even in the middle school years, is seen to impact a student’s capacity to get into a top college and then to a successful and happy career. Children are taught to get the “right” answer without trying and exploring other, perhaps better or even equally “right” options. The i2 Learning program encourages students to explore and experiment, to find those ways that will not work, and then get to their own “right” answer" (i2 Learning, 2015).
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Collaborate & Connect"Throughout the world one-person desks and cubicles are being replaced with pods and open spaces. Problems are being solved by teams not individuals. Traditional fields of study are no longer siloed but increasingly intersect. Today’s challenges require connections, interdisciplinary partnership and collaboration; all of which sit at the heart of i2 Learning. Our curriculum is filled with hands-on activities which can not be completed alone and require students to incorporate elements of all four STEM fields. The multiple connections we make with our curriculum partners, schools and educators enable us to try, test, retry and retest the latest developments in science and technology in a school setting" (i2 Learning, 2015).
Leverage Underutilized Resources"Throughout the world people are finding new ways to capitalize on underutilized resources. Renting your home while you are away, your car when it is sitting idle, or even your computer, is becoming increasingly common as we innovate to better allocate our limited resources. i2 Learning fills empty schools and classrooms in the summer and vacation weeks. We provide jobs and training for teachers looking to grow their careers during their vacation months. We take well-tested STEM curriculum developed by the world’s best STEM educators and make it easily accessible to middle schools throughout the world. And we push kids to think, work, and learn in ways they have not experienced before" (i2 Learning, 2015).
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Learning in Action
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