Laurel Middle School Teachers Highlight STEM-Related Learning in Cleveland Magazine 

was included in a recent Cleveland Magazine piece where she talks about STEM curriculum that meets students where they are. She recalls in the article one student in particular that was very artistic. She said, “She wasn’t strong at memorizing facts but being creative was her strong suit, so hands-on STEM projects allowed her to learn concepts better than if we had just done cookie-cutter labs, a reading project or had students take notes on a topic.” Sarah also highlights the tinkering that goes on in Middle School science, citing the annual Rube Goldberg project as one example. “It’s awesome to see resiliency come into play because they will get the machine to work 10 times in a row,” Brown said. “But when it’s time to videotape or watch them, they go for it, and something is off by a centimeter, and it doesn’t work. I had students who had to reset their machines 15 and 20 times before they got it to work. It was cool to watch them make those small adjustments.” Projects like this one help students to build resilience as they attempt time and again to get their project to work just right.

Another one of Laurel’s Middle School interdisciplinary STEM programs is its Space Week where students are on a mission to colonize Mars. They create a multi-faceted proposal, considering scientific challenges, governing challenges and what the colony will look like. “There is a series of tasks they go through during the course of the week that include research and projects like creating mission patches on Canva,” says Sean Abbott-Klafter, social studies and English teacher.  

“The project gives them choices to make and some creative freedom over the learning,” he adds. “So that’s part of the challenge, too. And, it generates a lot of investment and excitement for the project.”  

Sarah goes on to highlight the benefits of STEM learning—both at school and at home. “The payout of STEM learning is massive in terms of student engagement, learning, growth and mastery of concepts.”