Making a Life-Long Impact
Major events shape our lives every day. Whether it is a new scientific discovery, a historical document that is signed, a media sensation that captured attention, an innovative technology application launched, or a simple photograph that captured a family occasion, these actions are created by individuals who were led by educators and parents who engaged with them to make an IMPACT. Effective instruction and coaching will create life-long IMPACT.
Life-long IMPACT is gained by using intentional strategies that connect student’s learning to real-life problem solving. Life-long IMPACT connects the dots so that students can understand how their learning helps them to succeed in an exponentially changing world. Life-long IMPACT leverages collaboration so that students can appreciate the ideas of others. Life-long IMPACT encourages innovation through continuous inquiry and experimentation so that students will recognize unlimited potential. Life-long IMPACT influences ethical and positive change so that students can support their local and global communities with solutions to challenges. Life-long IMPACT inspires agility from all involved in the learning experiences so that students will engage with thoughtful and positive relationships.
Community STE[A]M Academy-Xenia (CSA)seeks to IMPACT by educating the whole child to meet global and local community needs in an ever-changing world by embracing the problem-solving STEM pathway while integrating the creativity of the arts. CSA students will engage and investigate questions, problems and challenges while nurtured and guided by teachers through cross-curricular, authentic, hands-on, interactive learning experiences. Consider this example of what the STE[A]M approach might look like. Perhaps 7th graders are learning about body systems in science while they are reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Students could be guided to make the connections between the changes that happened to Dr. Jekyll when he introduced chemicals into his body. From this, students could develop various projects that support the negative use of drugs, tobacco, caffeine, and alcohol. This STE[A]M approach to learning encourages students to create life-long IMPACT as they engage, explore and explain complex problems. Students using intentional strategies, connecting the dots, leveraging collaboration, encouraging innovation, influencing ethical and positive change, and inspiring agility to solve complex problems … that’s the value of STE[A]M…making a life-long IMPACT!