STEAM
Our entire student body is performing at their best under these unusual circumstances, but our STEAM program, in particular, has, if you’ll forgive the pun, been running at full steam.
You either have already seen or will soon see the great work that our Robotics team does. Beyond Robotics, our science department chair and teacher Mr. Lieb is hyperfocused on empowering ALL students to think of themselves as “scientists” working on the experiment of Tikkun Olam (bettering the world). This mindset empowers them to make rational decisions based on facts and good scientific practice as opposed to random opinions, an approach Mr. Leib brings into his unique classrooms.
Mr. Lieb’s Advanced Biology students, for example, instantly asked and unpacked the big questions: why does Coronavirus affect some people more than others? What role does evolution play in making some people susceptible? How do genes/molecular evolution and personalities of scientists play a role in the world around us?
You either have already seen or will soon see the great work that our Robotics team does. Beyond Robotics, our science department chair and teacher Mr. Lieb is hyperfocused on empowering ALL students to think of themselves as “scientists” working on the experiment of Tikkun Olam (bettering the world). This mindset empowers them to make rational decisions based on facts and good scientific practice as opposed to random opinions, an approach Mr. Leib brings into his unique classrooms.
Mr. Lieb’s Advanced Biology students, for example, instantly asked and unpacked the big questions: why does Coronavirus affect some people more than others? What role does evolution play in making some people susceptible? How do genes/molecular evolution and personalities of scientists play a role in the world around us?
At the same time, they pondered Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s famously erroneous study which proposed that MMR vaccines supposedly cause Autism. As students delved into that conversation about faulty science, they realized just how vital the proper scientific process is, and how influential the personalities behind the concepts can be. These conversations took them on a journey through the lives of Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, Charles Darwin, and Alfred Wallace, the critical human beings behind the concepts of Central Dogma and gene expression, as well as Natural Selection. As these concepts merged into their larger body of knowledge, many “light bulb moments” led students to forge understanding out of the unknowable factors of our modern world.
Our Science department is also utilizing the current situation to make an important case for scientific literacy. Our students’ journey begins from the intense foundations of Biology in 9th grade, where Dr. Basheer has created a foundational program generating an important momentum for further learning. As the students explore the horizons of their own learning, our intention is to allow them to not just be more empowered members of the society, but also powerful stakeholders who will carry enough scientific knowledge to be excited about making the world a better place.
Our Science department is also utilizing the current situation to make an important case for scientific literacy. Our students’ journey begins from the intense foundations of Biology in 9th grade, where Dr. Basheer has created a foundational program generating an important momentum for further learning. As the students explore the horizons of their own learning, our intention is to allow them to not just be more empowered members of the society, but also powerful stakeholders who will carry enough scientific knowledge to be excited about making the world a better place.