This upcoming school year, and because of your generosity, we will be opening our new STEAM Lab in our 6000 building on campus. In this exciting state-of-the-art facility, Cushman students will have hands-on usage of innovative equipment and software in a combined learning environment that focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics.
Many classes will begin doing projects in the STEAM Lab similar to apprenticeships of a bygone era where “learning through doing” is of such benefit. The free flowing workspace of the STEAM Lab and the ‘Tinkering Lab’ are designed to encourage flexibility of thought and creativity through real-world projects. Students will be actively engaged in problem solving and collaboration, and the results of their efforts will make the lessons more relevant than a textbook alone ever could. By creating real things that “matter”, STEAM education is truly relevant to today’s competitive marketplace, and this active participation in society’s productivity helps our students develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
This STEAM initiative is another example of how we work diligently to effectively prepare our students to be future leaders in the respective STEAM fields. We will also be partnering with many local businesses to continually introduce curriculum that our community will enjoy and benefit from regularly. We are thrilled that we will be receiving a $10,000 grant from TD Bank, our educational partner, which will be used to enhance the facility and enable us to bring innovative programming to your children.
Some of our current STEAM programming includes: an Artists-in-Residence program, an Architectural Design class using Revit, Video Game Design using Alice software, Music Composition using Propellerhead Reason (version 4) and Pro Tools 9, Engineering and Robotics Clubs, Lego and Vex Robotics, the Music Festival Series, Financial Literacy classes with TD Bank, Common Threads healthy cooking program, our TEDxYouth@Miami event at the Adrienne Arsht Center, and over 50 Parent Mentorships.
STEAM education will not be isolated to the STEAM Lab. All teachers will be creating unique cross-curricular, hands-on projects that will fully engage your children and create excitement for learning.